Support The single, vertically grained oak plank is approx. 1 cm thick. The top edge has been trimmed. Two wooden L-shaped strips (approx. 0.8 cm) attached to the left and right and joining at the bottom were added at a later date. The reverse is bevelled on all sides. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1618. The plank could have been ready for use by 1629, but a date in or after 1635 is more likely.
Preparatory layers The single, translucent white ground extends up to the edges of the support. It consists of large, opaque, white pigment particles with a minute addition of earth pigment.
Underdrawing No underdrawing could be detected with the naked eye or infrared photography.
Paint layers The paint extends up to the edges of the support. The composition was built up from the back to the front and from dark to light, using reserves. Before being worked up, the scene was underpainted with broad, sketchy strokes (also noticeable with infrared photography) of black and brown. The underpainting has become visible in areas where it was not always followed, for example in the curtain and in the necklines of the teacher and the girl standing on the left. The lit areas were executed smoothy with carefully blended, opaque paints. Infrared photography revealed that the upper leg of the boy sitting in the left foreground was considerably longer at first.
Gwen Tauber, 2021

Fair. The somewhat blurred look may be due to abrasion. There are large areas of overpaint in the background. Distinct, broad drying cracks, possibly related to overpaints, are visible in the background and in the teacher’s hat.

? acquired from the artist by Johan de Bye (c. 1625-1672), Leiden; his collection, Leiden, 11 September 1665, no. 8 (‘1 kaers-avondtschool met veel personen’);¹¹List of paintings by Gerrit Dou belonging to Johan de Bye that were exhibited in the front room of the house of the painter Johannes Hannot on Breestraat in Leiden; reproduced in T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, C.W. Fock and A.J. van Dissel (eds.), Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht, IIIb, Leiden 1988, p. 486. his niece, Maria Knotter (1651-1701), Leiden;²²T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, C.W. Fock and A.J. van Dissel (eds.), Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht, IIIb, Leiden 1988, pp. 462-64, states that Maria Knotter was the sole legatee of the collection, so Johan de Bye’s sister Anna never owned the painting, contrary to what is stated by Baer in A.K. Wheelock Jr (ed.), Gerrit Dou 1613-1675: Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, exh. cat. Washington (National Gallery of Art)/London (Dulwich Picture Gallery)/The Hague (Mauritshuis) 2000-01, p. 120. her son, Adriaen Wittert van der Aa (1672-1713), Leiden and Slot Cronenburgh, near Loenen;³³His will of 21 January 1703 speaks of ‘the costly cabinet of paintings still jointly belonging to him, the testator, and his […] brother, consisting of the pieces made by Dou […], all of which art is described in detail in the inventory of the estate of the late Mrs Maria Knotter, who was the widow of the noble Mr Adriaen Wittert van der Aa’; reproduced in T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, C.W. Fock and A.J. van Dissel (eds.), Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht, IIIb, Leiden 1988, pp. 464-65. from whom, fl. 1,000, to Pieter de la Court van der Voort (1664-1739), Leiden, through the mediation of Carel de Moor, 1710;⁴⁴T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, C.W. Fock and A.J. van Dissel (eds.), Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht, VIa, Leiden 1992, p. 366. probate inventory, Pieter de la Court van der Voort, Leiden, 1731, in the cabinet on the north inner wall (‘Het capitaal stuk van Gerard Dou zijn bekent avondschool, nagtligt met verscheyde wel waargenoome ligten ongemein in zijn zoort, h. 1v 8½ d, b. 1v 3½ d [53.6 x 40.6 cm], f 1000’);⁵⁵T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, C.W. Fock and A.J. van Dissel (eds.), Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht, VIa, Leiden 1992, p. 477. his probate inventory, Leiden, 12 September 1739, in the rear upper room facing the garden, called the cabinet (‘1 avondschool van dezelve, h. 1v 8½ d, br. 1v 3½ d [53.6 x 40.6 cm]’);⁶⁶T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, C.W. Fock and A.J. van Dissel (eds.), Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht, VIa, Leiden 1992, p. 491. his son, Allard de la Court van der Voort (1688-1755), Leiden; his widow, Catharina Backer (1689-1766), Leiden; her sale, Leiden, sold on the premises, 8 September 1766 sqq., no. 19 (‘een Avond School van Jongens en Meisjes, met vier verscheiden ligten en veel bywerk, […] op Paneel. 1 voet 8½ duim hoog, 1 voet 3½ duim breet [53.6 x 40.6 cm]’), fl. 4,000, to Mossel;⁷⁷Copy RMA. from whom, fl. 4,900, to Gerrit van der Pot (1732-1807), Lord of Groeneveld, Rotterdam, 1783;⁸⁸Pot van Groeneveld’s diary: ‘A night school of boys and girls, with five different lights. Was bought by Mr Mossel at the sale of the widow of Allard de la Court on 8 and 9 September 1766 in Leiden (no. 19) for fl. 4,000. Bought by me privately from Mr Mossel for fl, 4,900 in 1783’. See also E.W. Moes and E. van Biema, De Nationale Konst-Gallery en het Koninklijk Museum, Amsterdam 1909, p. 182. his sale, Rotterdam (Gebr. Van Ryp), 6 June 1808 sqq., no. 28 (‘Hoog 20, en breed 15½ duim [52.3 x 40.6 cm]. Pnl. Dit, in allen opzigte beroemd, tafereel stelt voor eene Avondschool: de Meester, gezeten aan eene tafel, waarop zijn Lessenaar staat, schijnt eene ernstige vermaning te geven aan eenen Jongeling, welke hij, met het Schoolbord onder den arm, uit de school zendt; terwijl een bevallig jong Meisje, met alle aandacht, hare les opzegt. Voor op de tafel staat een Zandlooper, en eene Kaars, welke deze groep verlicht. Wat meer voorwaarts zit een Jongeling, met eene Schrijflei op den schoot, te cijferen; bij denzelven staat een jong lagchend Meisje, dat eene brandende kaars in de hand houdt, en hem bijlicht. De uitwerking en harmonie dezer twee lichten zijn uitmuntend. Op den voorgrond staat een open lantaarn, waarin eene brandende kaars, wier licht zich kunstig op de daarbij zijnde voorwerpen verspreidt. Op den derden of achtergrond vertoont zich eene tafel, waarop eene kaars staat, en waaraan eenige kinderen van beiderlei kunne gezeten zijn, bezig hunne lessen te leeren. Wat verder komt nog een Jongeling, eene kaars in de hand houdende den Trap af. Een breed en ten deel opgehaald gordijn, grootsch en natuurlijk geplooid, strekt ten voorhangsel aan dit tooneel. Vijf Lichten – twaalf Figuren, ziet men hier verstandig geplaatst […] Dit stuk is, na het verlies van de beroemde kraamkamer, eertijds in het kabinet van wijlen den Heere G. Braamcamp berustende, doch naar Rusland overgebragt, en op Zee verongelukt, het allerrijkst en schoonste, dat van dezen Phenix bekend is.’), fl. 17,500, to Johannes Eck & Zoon, for the museum⁹⁹Copy RMA; E.W. Moes and E. van Biema, De Nationale Konst-Gallery en het Koninklijk Museum, Amsterdam 1909, p. 113. Provenance reconstructed in T. Zeedijk, ‘‘Tot Voordeel en Genoegen’: De schilderijenverzameling van Gerrit van der Pot van Groeneveld’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 55 (2007), pp. 128-207, esp. pp. 173-74, no. 48.

Object number: SK-A-87

Although appreciation of The Night School has fluctuated since the nineteenth century, it is one of Gerrit Dou’s most famous works.¹³¹³On which see P. Hecht, De Hollandse fijnschilders: Van Gerard Dou tot Adriaen van der Werff, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1989-90, p. 64. It is a fine example of his lighting of nocturnes that was already being praised by his contemporaries – a speciality that Van Hoogstraten held up as an example to everyone who wanted to make it their own.¹⁴¹⁴S. van Hoogstraten, Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst: Anders de zichtbaere werelt: Verdeelt in negen leerwinkels, Rotterdam 1678, p. 268. In 1731 the painting was hanging in the gallery with all the choicest pieces from the large collection of Pieter de la Court van der Voort at 65 Rapenburg in Leiden.¹⁵¹⁵See Provenance. On his collecting activities see T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, C.W. Fock and A.J. van Dissel (eds.), Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht, VIa, Leiden 1992, pp. 355-79. It appears in the background of a portrait made around 1803 by Johan Bernard Scheffer of the early-nineteenth-century owner Gerrit van der Pot.¹⁶¹⁶SK-A-4151. The Rijksmuseum purchased The Night School for the princely sum of 17,500 guilders at the sale of Van der Pot’s collection in 1808.

The provenance of the picture can be traced back, without interruption, to the collection of Dou’s Leiden patron Johan de Bye. It is described as ‘1 candlelit night school with many figures’ in the list of his 29 paintings by Dou that were exhibited in the house of the artist Johannes Hannot on Leiden’s Breestraat in 1665.¹⁷¹⁷See Provenance. There is also mention of a cabinet with two doors in which the work was kept safe from harm,¹⁸¹⁸For cabinets of this kind see W. Martin, Het leven en de werken van Gerrit Dou beschouwd in verband met het schildersleven van zijn tijd, diss., Leiden University 1901, pp. 76-78; and K. Boström, ‘Peep-Show or Case’, Kunsthistorische mededeelingen van het Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie 4 (1949), pp. 21-24. which was still present in May 1795 when Van der Pot paid to have it repaired, but has since been lost.¹⁹¹⁹See the transcription from Van der Pot’s catalogue in T. Zeedijk, ‘“Tot Voordeel en Genoegen”: De schilderijenverzameling van Gerrit van der Pot van Groeneveld’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 55 (2007), pp. 128-207, esp. p. 173.

The Night School was probably made not long before it went on display in Leiden. It is related to several versions by Dou of a schoolmaster instructing pupils by candlelight, including one in New York²⁰²⁰The Metropolitan Museum of Art; illustrated in W. Liedtke, Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, coll. cat. New York 2007, I, p. 157. and another in Florence.²¹²¹Gallerie degli Uffizi; illustrated in M. Chiarni, Gallerie e musei statali di Firenze: I dipinti olandesi del Seicento e del Settecento, coll. cat. Florence 1989, p. 106. The left wing of a lost triptych by Dou of 1671, which is known from a copy by Willem Joseph Laquy in the Rijksmuseum (SK-A-2320-B), is the last known work with the subject by Dou. The latter picture has a simplified composition compared to the one in the Rijksmuseum, with which it has several aspects in common, such as the characterization of the teacher and the three boys standing on the right. The Night School has a lot of figures by Dou’s standards, and contains more narrative elements than usual in its five constituent scenes. These are structured by an ingenious interplay of bright lights, shadows and reflections, mainly in shades of brown. However, as the restorer Pieter Joseph Thijs informed Van der Pot in 1798, those effects have suffered from darkening of the paint.²²²²That letter is transcribed in E.W. Moes and E. van Biema, De Nationale Konst-Gallery en het Koninklijk Museum, Amsterdam 1909, p. 186.

Emmens interpreted the little school on the left wing of a now-lost triptych by Dou of 1671 as a symbol of education,²³²³J.A. Emmens, ‘Natuur, onderwijzing en oefening: Bij een drieluik van Gerrit Dou’, in J. Bruyn et al. (eds.), Album discipulorum aangeboden aan Professor Dr. J.G. van Gelder ter gelegenheid van zijn zestigste verjaardag, Utrecht 1963, pp. 125-36, esp. pp. 132-33. For a copy of Dou’s triptych made around 1770 by Willem Joseph Laquy, see the entry on SK-A-2320-A. and the same applies to this work.²⁴²⁴See, for example, Baer in A.K. Wheelock Jr (ed.), Gerrit Dou 1613-1675: Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, exh. cat. Washington (National Gallery of Art)/London (Dulwich Picture Gallery)/The Hague (Mauritshuis) 2000-01, p. 120. Dou’s picture thus followed the traditional iconography of Grammar, which was symbolized by a schoolmaster surrounded by pupils. The teacher being severe with a child stands for the discipline that the young need in order to grow up and become sensible and well-behaved.²⁵²⁵See W.E. Franits, ‘Review of M.F. Durantini, The Child in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting’, Ann Arbor 1983, The Art Bulletin 67 (1985), pp. 695-700, esp. p. 700, for the importance of education in training the young. The painting was already being called a ‘candlelit night school’ in 1665, so it is unlikely that Dou intended it to be a winter morning scene, as has been suggested.²⁶²⁶C. Brown, ‘...Niet ledighs of ydels...’: Nederlandse genreschilders uit de 17e eeuw, Amsterdam 1984, p. 152. The evening setting is actually a reference to the importance of nocturnal diligence, which Dou’s champion Philips Angel highlighted in his address to the artists of Leiden of 1642.²⁷²⁷This is referred to by Sluijter in E.J. Sluijter, M. Enklaar and P. Nieuwenhuizen (eds.), Leidse fijnschilders: Van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge, 1630-1760, exh. cat. Leiden (Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal) 1988, p. 111, and by P. Hecht, De Hollandse fijnschilders: Van Gerard Dou tot Adriaen van der Werff, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1989-90, p. 63. For the quotation see P. Angel, Lof der Schilderkonst, Leiden 1642 – trans. M. Hoyle and annot. H. Miedema, ‘Philips Angel, Praise of Painting’, Simiolus 24 (1996), pp. 227-58, esp. p. 249. M.F. Durantini, The Child in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting, Ann Arbor 1983, p. 106, esp. note 35, considers the nocturnal setting irrelevant. Working at night was also praised by the classical orator and statesman Demosthenes, who said that he had spent more on oil for his lamp than on wine to arrive at good speeches. Ripa alludes to this in his description of Vigilantia in order to stress that night-time study yields laudable results.²⁸²⁸C. Ripa, Iconologia, of uytbeeldingen des verstands, trans. D.P. Pers, Amsterdam 1644, p. 598. See H. Brandhorst and P. van Huisstede, ‘Weest altoos vigilant en arbeytsaem: Drukkersmerken een mentaliteitshistorische bron?’, Nieuw Letterkundig Magazijn 17 (1999), pp. 30-34, esp. pp. 32-33, on the connection between keeping watch and working.

Great significance has been attached to the rendering of light in this painting, following the example of Emmens, who interpreted the glow from the lamps and candles emblematically as a reference to the light of the intellect.²⁹²⁹J.A. Emmens, ‘Natuur, onderwijzing en oefening: Bij een drieluik van Gerrit Dou’, in J. Bruyn et al. (eds.), Album discipulorum aangeboden aan Professor Dr. J.G. van Gelder ter gelegenheid van zijn zestigste verjaardag, Utrecht 1963, pp. 125-36, esp. p. 133; Baer in A.K. Wheelock Jr (ed.), Gerrit Dou 1613-1675: Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, exh. cat. Washington (National Gallery of Art)/London (Dulwich Picture Gallery)/The Hague (Mauritshuis) 2000-01, p. 120. M.F. Durantini, The Child in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting, Ann Arbor 1983, p. 108, gives a rather unconvincing interpretation of the distinction between the illuminated and shadowed passages as references to pupils who learn through self-discipline (in the light) and those who need to have discipline instilled in them (in the shadows). The contrast between the burning lantern on the floor and the unused one on the wall on the left (an allusion to ignorance or stupidity), might underline the importance of education.³⁰³⁰Baer in A.K. Wheelock Jr (ed.), Gerrit Dou 1613-1675: Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, exh. cat. Washington (National Gallery of Art)/London (Dulwich Picture Gallery)/The Hague (Mauritshuis) 2000-01, p. 120. See J.A. Emmens, ‘Natuur, onderwijzing en oefening: Bij een drieluik van Gerrit Dou’, in J. Bruyn et al. (eds.), Album discipulorum aangeboden aan Professor Dr. J.G. van Gelder ter gelegenheid van zijn zestigste verjaardag, Utrecht 1963, pp. 125-36, esp. p. 133, note 18, on unlit lanterns as alluding to ignorance with reference to an emblem by Roemer Visscher. In addition to these possible iconographic connotations, it emerges from early descriptions of the picture that it was enjoyed most for the rendering of light and reflections from the various light sources.³¹³¹See P. Hecht, De Hollandse fijnschilders: Van Gerard Dou tot Adriaen van der Werff, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1989-90, p. 64.

Gerbrand Korevaar, 2026

See Key to abbreviations, Rijksmuseum painting catalogues and Acknowledgements

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, I, London 1829, pp. 26-27, no. 79; W. Martin, Het leven en de werken van Gerrit Dou beschouwd in verband met het schildersleven van zijn tijd, diss., Leiden University 1901, p. 235, no. 320; C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, I, Esslingen/Paris 1907, p. 409, no. 206; Sluijter in E.J. Sluijter, M. Enklaar and P. Nieuwenhuizen (eds.), Leidse fijnschilders: Van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge, 1630-1760, exh. cat. Leiden (Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal) 1988, pp. 109-11, no. 14; P. Hecht, De Hollandse fijnschilders: Van Gerard Dou tot Adriaen van der Werff, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1989-90, pp. 60-64; R. Baer, The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), diss., New York University 1990, II, pp. 110.1-110.4, no. 110; Baer in A.K. Wheelock Jr (ed.), Gerrit Dou 1613-1675: Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, exh. cat. Washington (National Gallery of Art)/London (Dulwich Picture Gallery)/The Hague (Mauritshuis) 2000-01, pp. 120-21, no. 28l; M. Neumeister, Das Nachtstück mit Kunstlicht in der niederländischen Malerei und Graphik des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts: Ikonographische und koloristische Aspekte, Petersberg 2003, pp. 334-35

1809, pp. 16-18, no. 71; 1843, p. 15, no. 70 (‘… has suffered in many places, some of which have mortified. Much of the background is overpainted, and this overpainting has beaded in the varnish. This can be remedied to some extent but not repaired without putting this costly piece at risk.’); 1853, p. 9, no. 65 (fl. 60,000); 1858, p. 30, no. 67; 1880, p. 85, no. 73; 1887, p. 36, no. 276; 1903, p. 84, no. 795; 1934, p. 84, no. 795; 1960, p. 85, no. 795; 1976, p. 197, no. A 87

Gerbrand Korevaar, 2025, 'Gerrit Dou, The Night School, before 1665', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200109262