Who took their eye off The Night Watch

If ever there was a painting that was cursed with bad luck it has to be Rembrandt's Night Watch. I remember walking into the Rjiks Museum in Amsterdam with butterflies in my stomach, because this was one of those iconic works that had to be seen. My first reaction when I saw it was that something was terribly wrong. There was something dreadfully unsettling about the painting and I didn't know what it was, but I had an overwhelming urge to move it as you would a piece of furniture that just doesn't work where it is.

And then it struck me, the composition was all wrong. How could Rembrandt, one of the most masterful painters in the world make such an awful mistake. I stood there desperately disappointed, my eyes trying to put right what was wrong. I wanted to move the main figures away from the centre but even that wouldn't be enough. In an adjoining room there was an exhibition showing the history of The Night Watch which told of the damage that it had suffered since it was first painted.

In the 18th century, the painting was cut down in size when it was moved from the Kloveniersdoelen  in order to fit into the Amsterdam Town Hall, thus interfering with the composition that Rembrandt had given it. Two people on the left of the work were removed in the trimming and the whole balance of the work was lost. A copy by Gerrit Lundens hangs in the National Gallery London shows the origional size and composition of The Night Watch.

 A 17th century copy of the painting by Gerrit Lundens

And if that wasn't enough in 1975 a man walked in to the Rjiks Museum and stood in front of the painting acting very strangely. When the guards asked him to leave he took out a bread knife and slashed the painting a dozen times. But he wasn't the first to slash it because in 1911 a discharged Dutch navy cook took his revenge out on it, also with a knife. After four years of  restoration following it's second knife attack the painting was returned to the museum under a permanent guard but The Night Watch was still not safe. In 1990 another man walked into the Museum and threw acid on it but fortunately the guards were able to spray water on it in time to save it from damage.

The Night Watch is a survivor, although mayby a seriously injured one. Can it ever be enjoyed as it was meant to? I believe it can if you can get up close enough to appreciate the wonderful brushwork and details that Rembrandt painted. But be careful because its watched very closely by a guard who stands beside it, waiting, just waiting......