In the Netherlands, Rembrandt figures come to life for a TV interview
To explore the mysteries surrounding Rembrandt's "The Night Watch," Dutch director Theu Boermans proposes a novel format: actors, briefed on the famous painting and its era, play the characters in it and give a journalistic interview in a completely modern context. "The idea is completely crazy," admits the press, and yet, it works.
Much is known about The Night Watch . Completed by Rembrandt in 1642, it depicts members of the Amsterdam arquebus company, charged with protecting the city. We know that this painting, the centerpiece of the Rijksmuseum, originally measured slightly more than the approximately 3.6 × 4.3 meters it is today, but was reduced during a move and lost some figures in the process.
It is also known that the name of the work is largely subsequent to its execution – it was given to it because of its dark tones, due both to the painter's technique and to the layers of varnish that were applied to it.
Thanks to a cartouche added a few years after 1642, we also know some of the names of the figures – but not all, and we don't always know for sure who they correspond to. "There remains a kind of gray area," admits restorer Esther van Duijn, in a podcast produced by the museum . Scrutinized, restored, analyzed, and studied, the painting will never reveal all its secrets.
To shed some of the mystery, Dutch director Theu Boermans has proposed a novel method: in a film released in April in the Netherlands entitled Praten met de Nachtwacht – that is, “Conver
Courrier International
