The Night Watch

We can see a variety of things happening in the painting above; a gun being shot, people in panic, children and dogs roaming about and two people in the centre of all this calmly discussing something.

The calmness of the two people in the front of the painting symbolises their strong leadership and their high ranking among soldiers that are lost in panic, while also highlighting their high morals. During the 17th century Stoicism was extremely popular, therefore controlling your emotions was something that was highly valued and deemed as ethical.

Which explains why these soldiers are at the front, they are depicted as the leaders. Not panicking and being in control of their emotions makes them stand out, and become the highlight of this painting. 



Reference: Manca, Joseph. “3. The Moment in Rembrandt’s Night Watch: The Musket Blast, Narrative Drama, and Moral Excellence.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History of Ideas 11, no. 21 (2022).