Officers and Other Civic Guardsmen of District V in Amsterdam, under the Command of Captain Cornelis de Graeff and Lieutenant Hendrick Laurensz

Support The support consists of three pieces of plain-weave canvas (approx. 28.5, 136.5 and 202 cm) with two horizontal seams, and has been wax-resin lined. The tacking edges on the left and right have been removed, the ones at the top and bottom could not be assessed. There are straight fold lines at approx. 6 cm parallel to the edges of the current stretcher, and curved ones in the top corners. These indicate that the canvas was at some point folded over a smaller stretcher with slightly rounded-off top corners, reducing the size of the painting and changing its shape somewhat. This intervention was later reversed when the folded edges were put back into the picture plane.
Preparatory layers The double ground extends up to the current edges of the support on the left and right. The first, bright red layer consists of some large umber-coloured and a few small black and brown pigment particles. The second, beige ground contains large white and some large umber-coloured pigment as well as a small addition of minute orange, brown and black pigment particles.
Underdrawing No underdrawing could be detected with the naked eye or infrared photography.
Paint layers The paint extends up to the current edges of the support on the left and right. The figures were left in reserve. Slight adjustments were made to their contours and the placement of the hands and collars. Brushmarking is clearly visible in the wet in wet applied clothing of the figures, contrasting with the smooth paint surface of the flesh colours. Deep red glazes were used on top of the latter to indicate the darkest shadows. Extensive impasto is visible in the decorations of the gorgets. The individual threads of the fringe of the sash of the man seated second from the right were scratched into the wet paint, possibly with the butt end of a brush. A paint sample taken from his sash indicates that it was applied in two layers: the first being grey and containing black and white pigment particles, followed by a thin, solid blue one. The white lace of the cuffs of the figure seated on the far left (the captain) was built up in several layers: a thin, transparent brown one, broken up with finely ground black, brown and red pigment particles, over which the lace was constructed in two thick white layers (the top one containing some yellow pigment). Slight adjustments were made to contours and the placement of hands and collars, and here and their elements were added. For example, the collar of the third man standing from the left was not reserved in the sash, but applied over it, and the red sash of the man near the stairs was painted over an earlier green version.
Ige Verslype, 2023

Fair. Many old repaired tears and holes in the canvas are visible throughout. The picture has been extensively retouched and the reintegrated edges have been overpainted, as have some of the compositional elements, such as the head of the figure seated second from the right and the face of the man standing in the foreground on the far right.

Commissioned by or for the sitters for the Great Hall of the Kloveniersdoelen, Amsterdam; first mentioned in the Kloveniersdoelen, 1653 (‘Ibid. Cornelis Graef. Capn. Hendrik Lourisz Boeckverkooper, geschildert bij J Backer an 1642.’);¹¹G. Schaep, ‘De schilderijen in de drie doelens te Amsterdam 1653’, transcr. in P. Scheltema, Aemstel’s oudheid of gedenkwaardigheden van Amsterdam, VII, Amsterdam 1885, pp. 121-41, esp. p. 136, no. 6. transferred to the Kleine Krijgsraadkamer in the Town Hall on Dam Square, Amsterdam, c. 1715;²²See Entry. transferred to the house of Cornelis Sebille Roos (Trippenhuis), 29 Kloveniersburgwal, Amsterdam, 1808;³³See H. Brugmans, Van Raadhuis tot Paleis: Documenten betreffende den overgang van het Amsterdamsche Stadhuis tot Koninklijk Paleis, Amsterdam 1913, p. 60. transferred to the Prinsenhof, 195-99 Oudezijds Voorburgwal, Amsterdam, 1808;⁴⁴See H. Brugmans, Van Raadhuis tot Paleis: Documenten betreffende den overgang van het Amsterdamsche Stadhuis tot Koninklijk Paleis, Amsterdam 1913, p. 60, note 2. on loan from the City of Amsterdam to the museum since 1925

ObjectNumber: SK-C-1174

Credit line: On loan from the City of Amsterdam

This civic guard piece was the second executed by Jacob Backer. His earlier portrait in this genre was dated 1638 and adorned the vestibule of the Kloveniersdoelen (the headquarters of the arquebusiers’ civic guard), but is now, unfortunately, lost.⁸⁸G. Schaep, ‘De schilderijen in de drie doelens te Amsterdam 1653’, transcr. in P. Scheltema, Aemstel’s oudheid of gedenkwaardigheden van Amsterdam, VII, Amsterdam 1885, pp. 121-41, esp. p. 137, no. 14: ‘Aen de muer tegenover de glasen Schepen Spiegel Capn, Jacob Servaes Lut., ao. 1638 geschildert bij J Backer’. See P. van den Brink, ‘Jacob Adriaensz Backer: Complete Overview of his Paintings’, no. E 140, with further literature – CD-ROM accompanying P. van den Brink and J. van der Veen, Jacob Backer (1608/9-1651), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Museum Het Rembrandthuis)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2008-09. The present picture was also commissioned for that building, as one of three completed in 1642 for the long wall opposite the windows in the Great Hall, where it hung next to the entrance. The other two works were Nicolaes Eliasz Pickenoy’s portrait of the guardsmen of district IV, which had pride of place in the centre, and to the left of it Rembrandt’s Night Watch (fig. a).⁹⁹SK-C-1177 and SK-C-5 respectively. This side of the room originally had six small windows, each flanked by pilasters. The windows had to be bricked up and the wall made flat in order to accommodate the paintings.¹⁰¹⁰See C. Tümpel, ‘De Amsterdamse schuttersstukken’, in M. Carasso-Kok and J. Levy-van Halm (eds.), Schutters in Holland: Kracht en zenuwen van de stad, exh. cat. Haarlem (Frans Halsmuseum) 1988, pp. 74-103, esp. p. 93; S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, ‘The Night Watch and the Entry of Marie de’ Medici: A New Interpretation of the Original Place and Significance of the Painting’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 57 (2009), pp. 4-41, esp. p. 19.

The three canvases were the largest civic guard pieces ever executed, and were probably the largest paintings in Amsterdam at the time. While a few of the group portraits made earlier for the other two civic guard headquarters were wider, these were a metre or more taller than their nearest competitors. In their present states Pickenoy’s is the widest at 527 centimetres and Backer’s the highest at 367 centimetres. Seventeenth-century reduced copies of Rembrandt’s and Backer’s pictures indicate that the prototypes were cut down on all sides. The greatest loss occurred to the left of The Night Watch, while the Backer was cropped the most on the right, where an entire figure at the top was removed (fig. b).¹¹¹¹Two young boys were added in the copy, probably sons of Captain Cornelis de Graeff. See S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, ‘Frans Banninck Cocq’s Troop in Rembrandt’s Night Watch: The Identification of the Guardsmen’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 57 (2009), pp. 42-87, esp. p. 50, caption to fig. 42. Martin, who published the copy after Backer’s painting in 1933, calculated the size of the original to have been 379 by 549 centimetres.¹²¹²W. Martin, ‘Backer’s Korporaalschap uit den Kloveniersdoelen te Amsterdam’, Oud Holland 50 (1933), pp. 220-24, esp. p. 224, where, by the way, the results are considered unreliable. On p. 221 the size of Backer’s canvas at the time is given as 358 x 497 centimetres, which is somewhat smaller than the measurements recorded here (367 x 513 centimetres). Based on the widths of the three individual pieces of canvas that make up the support of Backer’s picture and seventeenth-century standardized loom width, Colenbrander has more recently suggested that it would have been originally 418 centimetres high.¹³¹³H. Colenbrander, ‘Hoe hoog hing de Nachtwacht?: Een kwestie van ellen, voeten en duimen’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 105 (2013), pp. 238-75, esp. p. 249. By dividing the total length of the long wall (1,736 centimetres) minus the estimated room taken up by pilasters which may or may not have existed (121.5 centimetres) by three, Colenbrander estimated the widths of the three portraits that adorned it to have been 537.8 centimetres.¹⁴¹⁴H. Colenbrander, ‘Hoe hoog hing de Nachtwacht?: Een kwestie van ellen, voeten en duimen’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 105 (2013), pp. 238-75, esp. p. 263. However, only X-radiography can provide a factual basis for determining the work’s original dimensions.

Unlike Rembrandt in The Night Watch, Backer took his painting’s corner location in the Great Hall into consideration by placing some of the guardsmen on a flight of steps. Inspired by Joachim von Sandrart’s 1640 civic guard piece in the same room,¹⁵¹⁵SK-C-393; see fig. a, on the far left. this motif closes the composition on the right and takes advantage of the height of the canvas as comparison with Pickenoy’s portrait demonstrates, where the majority of the men constitute a frieze at the bottom. The diagonal created by the staircase and those formed by the pikes, muskets and other weapons, as well as the company’s banner, impart a sense of dynamism, leading the eye to the far left of the picture where Captain Cornelis de Graeff is seated. By putting the most important sitter here, De Graeff was as close as possible to the centre of the Great Hall.¹⁶¹⁶As pointed out in J. Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, III, The Hague/Boston/London 1989, p. 476. Some authors have suggested that the structures on the left were arranged on a diagonal so that they would link up with the ones in Pickenoy’s canvas.¹⁷¹⁷J. Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, III, The Hague/Boston/London 1989, p. 432; S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, ‘The Night Watch and the Entry of Marie de’ Medici: A New Interpretation of the Original Place and Significance of the Painting’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 57 (2009), pp. 4-41, esp. p. 25; N. Middelkoop, Schutters, gildebroeders, regenten en regentessen: Het Amsterdamse corporatiestuk 1525-1850, diss., University of Amsterdam 2019, I, p. 188. However, the porch in front of the building in Backer’s painting makes it unlikely that the structure was intended as the side wall of the house in Pickenoy’s work. Rather, the sole function of the non-descript architecture on the left of Backer’s portrait is the creation of depth. The numerous pikes on the right of the composition and the two guardsmen next to them seen from behind, also contribute to the sense of recession. As is the case with the pikes, the bearers of the two muskets being fired to the left of centre are not in view. Their presence here, and that of the two musketeers depicted more or less in the middle, serve to emphasize the fact that the musket was the privileged weapon of the arquebusiers. According to Haverkamp-Begemann the still life of armour at the lower right symbolizes the civic guard’s role as protector of Amsterdam’s citizens.¹⁸¹⁸E. Haverkamp-Begemann, Rembrandt: The Nightwatch, Princeton 1982, p. 92.

Jan van Dyk, the supervisor of the city’s art collection, states in his 1758 catalogue of the works in the Town Hall that the sitters in three of the six Kloveniersdoelen civic guard pieces – which by this time had all been transferred to Dam square – were identified above or below the paintings,¹⁹¹⁹J. van Dyk, Kunst en historiekundige beschryving en aanmerkingen over alle de schilderyen op het Stadhuis te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1758, pp. 35, 62, 99-100. presumably on wooden boards, although Van Dyk does not explicitly say so. The one attached to Bartholomeus van der Helst’s portrait ²⁰²⁰SK-C-375, completed in 1643; see fig. a, above the entrance. has alone survived and dates to around 1715, when the picture had been relocated to the Grote Krijgsraadkamer (Great Council of War Chamber) in the Town Hall. The other two civic guard pieces that were given such shields were Backer’s and Pickenoy’s. In his discussion of the latter, Van Dyk specifies that it had been placed above the work when still in the Kloveniersdoelen.²¹²¹J. van Dyk, Kunst en historiekundige beschryving en aanmerkingen over alle de schilderyen op het Stadhuis te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1758, p. 99: ‘de namen der Persoonen, die in dit stuk zyn afgebeelt, stonden in den Doelen boven ’t zelve geschreeven’. Pickenoy’s canvas was most likely moved to the Town Hall in 1753. The date of the transfer of Backer’s portrait is not documented, but was probably in or before 1715, when The Night Watch was trimmed in order to be mounted on a short wall in the Kleine Krijgsraadkamer (Small Council of War Chamber). Backer’s picture must have already been installed on the longer wall of this room, where it was later recorded to be hanging, otherwise that spot would have gone to The Night Watch and there would have been no need to reduce its width.²²²²For a reconstruction of the hanging of the civic guard pieces in the Grote and Kleine Krijgsraadkamer in the Town Hall, see N. Middelkoop, ‘Schuttersstukken kijken met Jan van Dyk: Een reconstructie van de plaatsing in het Stadhuis op de Dam’, Maandblad Amstelodamum 96 (2009), pp. 65-78, esp. p. 69. It stands to reason that Backer’s painting was already equipped with a name board before it left the Kloveniersdoelen as Van Dyk published the names of Pickenoy’s guardsmen in his description of Backer’s group portrait and vice versa.²³²³J. van Dyk., Kunst en historiekundige beschryving en aanmerkingen over alle de schilderyen op het Stadhuis te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1758, pp. 62, 99-100. This would not have occurred if Backer’s work had been given a shield only after it had been relocated to the Town Hall.

The guardsmen immortalized by Backer served district V, the area to the south of the IJ, between Damrak and Singel.²⁴²⁴Its northern boundary was formed by Prins Hendrikkade and its southern boundary by Karnemelksteeg and Sint Jacobsstraat. For the sitters’ biographies see the list at the end of this entry. Cornelis de Graeff was appointed its company’s captain on 25 June 1638. He was the eldest child of the wealthy merchant and six time burgomaster Jacob de Graeff, and a cousin of Cornelis Bicker, who as captain of district XIX was portrayed by Von Sandrart in the earliest painting made for the Great Hall of the Kloveniersdoelen.²⁵²⁵SK-C-393, completed in 1640. Cornelis de Graeff was also a distant cousin of Roelof Bicker, the captain of district VIII in Van der Helst’s civic guard piece for the same room.²⁶²⁶SK-C-375. The familial ties with the Bickers were repeatedly reinforced, for example by the marriages of De Graeff’s sisters Agniet and Christina with Cornelis Bicker’s brothers Jan and Jacob in 1625 and 1642.²⁷²⁷See J.E. Elias, De vroedschap van Amsterdam 1578-1795, I, Haarlem 1903, table 1 facing p. 84. Later, in 1646, De Graeff’s younger brother Andries would marry Cornelis Bicker’s daughter Elisabeth. Together these two families dominated Amsterdam’s city council for decades. Cornelis de Graeff’s own political career started in 1636 and beginning in 1643 he served nine terms as burgomaster. After the sudden death of Stadholder Willem II in 1650, he and the anti-Orangist States faction to which he belonged controlled the finances and politics of the Republic. In addition to Cornelis and Roelof Bicker, he was related to the captain portrayed in The Night Watch; De Graeff’s first wife, who died two months after their wedding, was Geertruyd Overlander, whose elder sister Maria was married to Frans Banninck Cocq, the commander of the company of district II depicted in Rembrandt’s civic guard painting.

Seated next to De Graeff is Lieutenant Hendrick Laurensz, who had served in this capacity since 1620. His right hand is held to his heart, which was a much-used portrait gesture denoting faithfulness, and the partisan in his left hand resting on his lap was the weapon associated with his rank. While the names of the captain and lieutenant are known from Gerard Schaep’s 1653 list of the paintings in the three civic guard headquarters, Van Dyk transcribed those of most of the other sitters in 1758 from the no longer extant shield of Backer’s picture. His list is not complete, however, as it contains only 23 names, whereas there were 25 guardsmen in Backer’s portrait before it was cut down, not including those whose faces are not visible.

The ensign, Joachim Jansz Scheepmaker, stands in the centre of the painting. As the leader of one of four companies composed of volunteers from the Amsterdam civic guard that went to Zaltbommel in 1625 to assist the States army, Scheepmaker was possibly the only sitter in Backer’s portrait to have taken an active part in the fight against the Spanish.²⁸²⁸For his participation in the expedition to Zaltbommel see H. Beckering Vinckers, ‘Amsterdamsche burgervendels in garnizoen in Zalt-Bommel’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 28 (1931), pp. 43-63, esp. p. 48.

The company’s two sergeants can be recognized as such by their halberds. One of them wears a sleeveless buff coat and stands to the right of Scheepmaker, who addresses him. The other is the towering figure dressed in black on the left looking down at Captain De Graeff. As he appears to be the elder of the two, he can be tentatively identified as Jan Gerritsz van Leeuwarden, who was 15 years older than his fellow sergeant, Theunis Jansz Visch.

Three of the regular guardsmen were also painted by other artists. Hendrick Jansz Cruywagen is probably the husband and father in a family portrait from the early 1640s attributed to Jacob van Loo,²⁹²⁹SK-A-81. and has been identified as the guardsman on the far right that was cut away from Backer’s picture, but can be seen in the copy after it (fig. b).³⁰³⁰S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, ‘Frans Banninck Cocq’s Troop in Rembrandt’s Night Watch: The Identification of the Guardsmen’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 57 (2009), pp. 42-87, esp. p. 50, caption to fig. 42. Jan Jacobsz Lansman and Marten Canter were portrayed by Jürgen Ovens in 1656 as regents of the Oude Zijds Huiszittenhuis (Outdoor Poor Relief Board) (fig. c).³¹³¹Lansman was regent from 1653 until his death in 1666, and Canter was regent from 1646 until his death in 1672. Lansman, who was about 38 years old at the time, was the youngest of Ovens’s sitters and, at about age 24 or 25 when Backer’s painting was made, he is also one of the youngest guardsmen shown. In that case there are only two figures who can be qualified as Lansman: the blond-haired man wearing a feathered hat at the top of the stairs and the one wearing a silver doublet descending it. Given the resemblance to the regent on the far right in Ovens’s canvas, the last option seems the best fit. Unlike Lansman, Canter does not stand out in either portrait because of his age. Also included in Ovens’s painting is Cornelis Hoppesack, who was born in the same year as Canter, 1603.³²³²Hoppesack was regent from 1648 until his death in 1663. Considering the ages of the other sitters, Canter is probably either the regent seated second from the right or the standing grey-haired man retrieving the account books from the cupboard.³³³³Ovens’s other sitters are Jan Hendricksz Selijns (1592-1669, regent 1625-66), who as the oldest and longest serving regent is undoubtedly the figure on the far left, and seated next to him Pieter Ernst van Bassen (1611-1672, regent 1653-60) and Willem van der Does (1608-166, regent 1654-66). The latter figure is possibly an older version of the guardsman with a red sash standing at the bottom of the stairs in Backer’s picture.

As was often the case, the captain and lieutenant did not live in the district they served, contrary to all the other guardsmen whose biographies could be determined.³⁴³⁴See the list below. The herring trade was located in district V, so it comes as little surprise that six of the sitters were herring merchants.³⁵³⁵This trade was concentrated on Haringpakkerij (the stretch of present-day Prins Hendrikkade between Damrak and Singel), which abutted the IJ. Among them were the two sergeants; the last name of the younger one, Theunis Jans Visch, matched his profession perfectly. Two of the others involved in the trade, Marten Canter (Coeckebacker) and Gerrit Benning Coeckebacker, were brothers, as was their brother-in-law, guardsman Willem Jansz van Midlum. Most of the remaining men were merchants or manufacturers of a variety of goods, including cloth, wine, rope, sails and iron, while Lieutenant Hendrick Laurensz and Jan Evertsz van Heerden were booksellers and publishers. Guardsman Hendrick Rijcksz had been a fine art painter before taking over his father-in-law’s knife-making business. A wine tax farmer by profession, Ensign Scheepmaker also had creative inclinations; he was an occasional poet and friend of Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero and Joost van den Vondel.³⁶³⁶See G. Stuiveling, Memoriaal van Bredero: Documentaire van een dichterleven, Culemborg 1970, p. 241; C.S.M. Rademaker, Gerardus Joannes Vossius (1577-1649), Zwolle 1967, p. 211.

When one considers the fact that Pickenoy made full-length wedding pendants of – the then captain-to-be – Cornelis de Graeff and his second wife Catharina Hooft in 1636,³⁷³⁷Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie; illustrated in N. Middelkoop (ed.), Kopstukken: Amsterdammers geportretteerd 1600-1800, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Amsterdams Historisch Museum) 2002-03, p. 118. and had portrayed the guardsmen of probably district V, including Lieutenant Hendrick Laurensz, previously in 1630,³⁸³⁸Amsterdam Museum; illustrated in N. Middelkoop, G. Reichwein and J. van Gent, De oude meesters van de stad Amsterdam: Schilderijen tot 1800, coll. cat. Amsterdam (Amsterdams Historisch Museum) 2008, p. 235, no. SA 7312. For the identification of the sitters in this portrait as guardsmen from district V see Blankert in A. Blankert and R. Ruurs, Amsterdams Historisch Museum: Schilderijen daterend van voor 1800, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1975/79, pp. 111-12, no. 141. the question arises why he was not awarded the commission for the present picture. By that time Pickenoy may, of course, simply have already been asked by Captain Jan Claesz van Vlooswijck of district IV to paint his company for the Kloveniersdoelen headquarter,³⁹³⁹SK-C-1177 but a better explanation is that Backer, like his sitters, resided in district V. Backer’s address in Amsterdam is not documented, but it seems likely that he lived in the bakery at no. 6 Nieuwendijk that was run by his brother Tjerck.⁴⁰⁴⁰J. van der Veen, ‘Jacob Backer, een schets van zijn leven’, in P. van den Brink and J. van der Veen, Jacob Backer (1608/9-1651), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Museum Het Rembrandthuis)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2008-09, pp. 10-25, esp. p. 18. The shop was close to the houses and businesses of a number of the guardsmen, including that of Theunis Jansz Visch only a few doors down at no. 19.⁴¹⁴¹The suggestion raised by Van den Brink that Backer would have received the commission because he had got others from Cornelis de Graeff is not convincing, as the no longer extant portrait (not portraits as Van den Brink records) in question depicted De Graeff’s sons Pieter and Jacob, born in 1638 and 1642 respectively; P. van den Brink, ‘Uitmuntend schilder in het groot: De schilder en tekenaar Jacob Adriaensz. Backer’, in P. van den Brink and J. van der Veen, Jacob Backer (1608/9-1651), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Museum Het Rembrandthuis)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2008-09, pp. 26-84, esp. p. 57. That commission, therefore, would have come after Backer was asked for the present painting. For the document in which the portrait of Pieter and Jacob de Graeff is mentioned, see P. van den Brink, ‘Jacob Adriaensz Backer: Complete Overview of his Paintings’, no. E152 – CD-ROM accompanying the aforementioned exh. cat. Amsterdam/Aachen 2008-09. Also rather far-fetched is the suggestion that Backer received the order because he had portrayed a relative of Cornelis de Graeff’s wife, as raised by E.E. Kok, Culturele ondernemers in de Gouden Eeuw: De artistieke en sociaal-economische strategieën van Jacob Backer, Govert Flinck, Ferdinand Bol en Joachim von Sandrart, diss., University of Amsterdam 2013, p. 96.

The possibility that Backer was a resident of district V, and could therefore have served as a member of its civic guard company, would support Van Hall’s identification of the man on the staircase at the far right of the current, cut-down painting as the artist himself.⁴²⁴²H. van Hall, Portretten van Nederlandse beeldende kunstenaars/Portraits of Dutch Painters and Other Artists of the Low Countries, Amsterdam 1963, p. 8, no. 61-3. However, despite the resemblance to a 1638 drawn self-portrait by Backer,⁴³⁴³Vienna, Albertina; illustrated in P. van den Brink and J. van der Veen, Jacob Backer (1608/9-1651), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Museum Het Rembrandthuis)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2008-09, p. 179. this is not a plausible hypothesis. Speaking against it is Backer’s religious background, as Mennonites were not permitted to bear arms nor to swear oaths to secular powers, and, therefore, were exempt from serving in the civic guard.⁴⁴⁴⁴P. Knevel, Burgers in het geweer: De schutterijen in Holland, 1550-1700, Hilversum 1994, p. 197. Although he was not an official member of the Mennonite Church during his years in Amsterdam and in 1651 had himself baptized a Remonstrant, it is not known at which point he abandoned his original faith.⁴⁵⁴⁵For Backer’s faith see S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, ‘Doopsgezinden en schilderkunst in de 17e eeuw: Leerlingen, opdrachtgevers en verzamelaars van Rembrandt’, Doopsgezinde Bijdragen 6 (1980), pp. 105-23, esp. p. 110; R. Lambour, ‘Het doopsgezind milieu van Michiel van Musscher (1645-1705) en van andere schilders in zeventiende-eeuws Amsterdam: Een revisie en ontdekking’, Oud Holland 125 (2012), pp. 193-214, esp. p. 198. Of greater importance is the fact that he does not appear in Van Dyk’s list of the guardsmen depicted. It could be argued that Van der Helst, who most likely included himself in his civic guard piece, is not recorded by Van Dyk either, but he is dressed as a civilian not as a soldier. All figures in the present painting, on the contrary, wear military apparel or carry weapons. Thus, if Backer did portray himself here he would have been a guardsman for district V, and his name would have occurred in Van Dyk’s list.

Jonathan Bikker, 2023

THE SITTERS, THEIR RANKS, RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS, OCCUPATIONS AND ADDRESSES (in the order as on the name board)

Cornelis de Graeff (1599-1664)
Captain of district V since 25 June 1638. Reformed. Merchant. In 1636, he became a director of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). After his father’s death in 1638, he acquired the title Lord of Zuid-Polsbroek. His political functions included that of alderman (1640) and burgomaster (1643, 1648, 1651, 1652, 1655, 1656, 1658, 1659, 1661 and 1662).⁴⁶⁴⁶J.A. Jochems, Amsterdams oude burgervendels (schutterij), 1580-1795, Amsterdam 1888, p. 32; J.E. Elias, De vroedschap van Amsterdam 1578-1795, I, Haarlem 1903, p. 422, no. 144; Veder in P.C. Molhuysen and P.J. Blok (eds.), Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek, II, Leiden 1912, cols. 492-97; Dudok van Heel in N. Middelkoop (ed.), Kopstukken: Amsterdammers geportretteerd 1600-1800, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Amsterdams Historisch Museum) 2002-03, p. 119.

Hendrick Laurensz (1588-1649)
Lieutenant of district V since 1620. Reformed. Bookseller and publisher. Lived on Damrak (no. 49) in district III.⁴⁷⁴⁷J.A. Jochems, Amsterdams oude burgervendels (schutterij), 1580-1795, Amsterdam 1888, p. 32; R.E.O. Ekkart, ‘Het portret van een Amsterdamse uitgever en zijn gezin’, Oud Holland 90 (1976), pp. 15-20, esp. p. 18; S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, ‘Als Justus van Maurik dit eens had geweten: Zes eeuwen geschiedenis van Damrak nr. 49, II’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 80 (1988), pp. 26-59, esp. pp. 31-34.

Joachim Jansz Scheepmaker (?-1657)
Ensign. He succeeded Hendrick Laurensz by 1646 as lieutenant of district V and became captain of district XVII in 1650. Remonstrant. Wine tax farmer. Lived on Raamskooi in district V.⁴⁸⁴⁸J.A. Jochems, Amsterdams oude burgervendels (schutterij), 1580-1795, Amsterdam 1888, pp. 11, 32, 53; J.G. Frederiks and P.J. Frederiks, Kohier van den tweehonderdsten penning voor Amsterdam en onderhoorige plaatsen over 1631: Uitgegeven vanwege het Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1890, fol. 73v, no. 52; J.G. van Dillen, Bronnen tot de geschiedenis van het bedrijfsleven en het gildewezen van Amsterdam, II, The Hague 1933, p. 544, no. 961; G. Stuiveling, Memoriaal van Bredero: Documentaire van een dichterleven, Culemborg 1970, p. 241.

Theunis Jansz Visch (1605-1653)
Sergeant ? In 1650 he became lieutenant of district XVII. Reformed. Herring merchant. Lived on Nieuwendijk (no. 19) in district V.⁴⁹⁴⁹J.A. Jochems, Amsterdams oude burgervendels (schutterij), 1580-1795, Amsterdam 1888, p. 53; J.G. Frederiks and P.J. Frederiks, Kohier van den tweehonderdsten penning voor Amsterdam en onderhoorige plaatsen over 1631: Uitgegeven vanwege het Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1890, fol. 77v, no. 105; J.G. van Dillen, Bronnen tot de geschiedenis van het bedrijfsleven en het gildewezen van Amsterdam, II, The Hague 1933, p. 247, no. 397. SA, DTB 440, p. 209, 29 March 1633; SA, Transportakten 20 June 1650.

Jan Gerritsz van Leeuwarden (1590-?)
Sergeant ? Reformed. Herring merchant. Lived on Prins Hendrikkade in district V.⁵⁰⁵⁰J.G. Frederiks and P.J. Frederiks, Kohier van den tweehonderdsten penning voor Amsterdam en onderhoorige plaatsen over 1631: Uitgegeven vanwege het Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1890, fol. 75, no. 70; J.G. van Dillen, Bronnen tot de geschiedenis van het bedrijfsleven en het gildewezen van Amsterdam, II, The Hague 1933, p. 247, no. 397. SR, ONA 89, notary Jan van Aller, no. 191, p. 306, 9 July 1631.

Marten Canter (Coeckebacker) (1603-1672)
Ensign in 1650, lieutenant in 1657 and captain in 1667 of district XVII. Reformed. Herring merchant. Lived in the house called ‘De Drie Vergulde Haringen’ on Prins Hendrikkade in district V, which had belonged to his father Gerrit Jacobsz Coeckebacker.⁵¹⁵¹J.A. Jochems, Amsterdams oude burgervendels (schutterij), 1580-1795, Amsterdam 1888, p. 53; J.G. van Dillen, Bronnen tot de geschiedenis van het bedrijfsleven en het gildewezen van Amsterdam, III, The Hague 1974, p. 828, no. 1742; The Montias Database of 17th Century Dutch Art Inventories 2, record no. 26502. SA, NA 1653, notary Pieter de Bary, 8 June 1667, unpag.; SA, Transportakten 27 June 1644, 14 May 1680.
Brother of Gerrit Benning Coeckebacker and brother-in-law of Willem Jansz van Midlum (both also portrayed).

Hans van der Elst (Rotterdam 1590/91-after 1674)
Remonstrant. Herring merchant. When his wedding banns were posted in 1621 he was living on Prins Hendrikkade in district V. The same address was recorded in 1631.⁵²⁵²J.G. Frederiks and P.J. Frederiks, Kohier van den tweehonderdsten penning voor Amsterdam en onderhoorige plaatsen over 1631: Uitgegeven vanwege het Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1890, fol. 75, no. 72. SA, DTB 426, p. 87, 21 May 1621; SR, ONA 70, notary Willem Jacobsz, no. 12, p. 41, 15 April 1632; SR, ONA 167, notary Nicolaas Adriaansz Vogel, no. 121, p. 202, 8 April 1636.

Warnar Wiggertsz (Tournai 1581/82-?)
Reformed. Cloth dyer. Lived on Nieuwendijk in district V.⁵³⁵³J.G. Frederiks and P.J. Frederiks, Kohier van den tweehonderdsten penning voor Amsterdam en onderhoorige plaatsen over 1631: Uitgegeven vanwege het Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1890, fol. 81v, no. 164. SA, DTB 412, p. 147, 11 January 1607; SA, DTB 422, p. 149, 23 January 1618; SA, Transportakten 18 August 1617, 10 April 1642.

Adam Gerritsz (1593/94-?)
Reformed. Maker of stained-glass windows. Lived on Raamskooi in district V.⁵⁴⁵⁴J.G. Frederiks and P.J. Frederiks, Kohier van den tweehonderdsten penning voor Amsterdam en onderhoorige plaatsen over 1631: Uitgegeven vanwege het Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1890, fol. 73v, no. 50. SA, DTB 668, p. 31, 11 June 1616; SA, Transportakten 26 March 1630, 26 February 1653.

Hendrick Jansz Cruywagen (1598-1659/61)
Captain of district LIII between 1652 and 1659. Remonstrant. Sail manufacturer and merchant. Lived on Singel (no. 2) in district V.⁵⁵⁵⁵J.A. Jochems, Amsterdams oude burgervendels (schutterij), 1580-1795, Amsterdam 1888, p. 74; I.H. van Eeghen, ‘Het huis De Spaanse Kruiwagen’, Maandblad Amstelodamum 49 (1962), pp. 63-66, esp. pp. 64, 65; I.H. van Eeghen, ‘De familie Meebeeck Cruywagen’, Maandblad Amstelodamum 49 (1962), pp. 79-84, esp. pp. 80-81.

Hendrick Rijcksz (1596/97-1643)
Reformed. Painter and later knife manufacturer. Lived on Prins Hendrikkade (no. 43) in district V.⁵⁶⁵⁶I.H. van Eeghen, ‘De huisjes in het Victoriahotel’, Maandblad Amstelodamum 53 (1966), pp. 125-35, esp. pp. 132-33. SA, DTB 428, p. 135, 28 July 1623; SA, Transportakten 14 May 1698.

Elias de Haes (Beverwijk 1603-1650)
Reformed. Cloth merchant. Purchased a house on Oude Braak in district V in 1641.⁵⁷⁵⁷N.W. Posthumus, Bescheiden betreffende de provinciale organisatie der Hollandsche lakenbereiders (de zgn. droogscheerderssynode), Amsterdam 1917, pp. 23, 271; N.W. Posthumus, De nationale organisatie der lakenkoopers tijdens de republiek, Utrecht 1927, p. 289. SA, Transportakten 21 June 1641.

Cornelis Cornelisz Karsseboom (1608-1646)
Reformed. Merchant. Lived on Damrak in district III and from 1639 until his death on Herengracht (no. 37) in district I.⁵⁸⁵⁸J.G. Frederiks and P.J. Frederiks, Kohier van den tweehonderdsten penning voor Amsterdam en onderhoorige plaatsen over 1631: Uitgegeven vanwege het Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1890, fol. 37v, no. 27; J.E. Elias, De vroedschap van Amsterdam 1578-1795, II, Haarlem 1905, p. 698; I.H. van Eeghen, G. Roosegaarde Bisschop and H.F. Wijnman, Vier eeuwen Herengracht: Geveltekeningen van alle huizen aan de gracht, Amsterdam 1976, p. 196. SA, Transportakten 2 May 1618, 22 April 1639.

Barent Harmensz Bronswinckel (1599/1600-1659)
Reformed. Wine merchant. His address is listed as Haarlemmer Houttuinen in district V in 1631. Purchased a house on Prins Hendrikkade in district V in 1642, where he lived until his death.⁵⁹⁵⁹J.G. Frederiks and P.J. Frederiks, Kohier van den tweehonderdsten penning voor Amsterdam en onderhoorige plaatsen over 1631: Uitgegeven vanwege het Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1890, fol. 73, no. 41. SA, DTB 431, p. 251, 13 June 1626; SA, DTB 6, p. 174, 23 May 1627; SA, DTB 6, p. 215, 10 September 1628; SA, Transportakten 12 April 1642, 20 May 1683.

Willem Jansz van Midlum (Grotebroek 1599/1600-1670)
Reformed. Herring merchant. Lived in a house called ‘De Drie Haringen’ on Prins Hendrikkade in district V.⁶⁰⁶⁰J.G. Frederiks and P.J. Frederiks, Kohier van den tweehonderdsten penning voor Amsterdam en onderhoorige plaatsen over 1631: Uitgegeven vanwege het Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1890, fol. 74v, no. 64. SA, DTB 429, p. 189, 11 July 1624; SA, Transportakten 2 March 1663; SA, NA 1653, notary Pieter de Bary, 8 June 1667, unpag.
Brother-in-law of Marten Canter (Coeckebacker) and Gerrit Benning Coeckebacker (both also portrayed).⁶¹⁶¹He was married to their sister Trijn Gerritsdr Coeckebacker (1597-before 1667).

Hendrick Pauwelsz
This guardsman has not been identified.

Jan Gerritsz Parijs (1596-after 1654)
Reformed. Shipping agent. He may be identical with the ‘Jan Gerritsz’ living on Damrak in district V listed in 1631.⁶²⁶²J.G. Frederiks and P.J. Frederiks, Kohier van den tweehonderdsten penning voor Amsterdam en onderhoorige plaatsen over 1631: Uitgegeven vanwege het Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1890, fol. 72v, no. 36; The Montias Database of 17th Century Dutch Art Inventories 1, record no. 481.

Gerrit Benning Coeckebacker (1606-before 1667)
Reformed. Herring merchant. When his wedding banns were posted in 1635 he was living on Prins Hendrikkade in district V.⁶³⁶³SA, DTB 443, p. 354, 16 May 1635; SA, NA 1653, notary Pieter de Bary, 8 June 1667, unpag.
Brother of Marten Canter (Coeckebacker) and brother-in-law of Willem Jansz van Midlum (both also portrayed).

Hendrick Aertsz de Keijzer (1607-after 1653)
Reformed. Iron merchant. In 1653, he was living on Damrak in district V. He was a cousin of the painter Thomas de Keyser.⁶⁴⁶⁴H. Boon and C.A. Langedijk, Vingerhoedmakers en hun bedrijven in de tijd van de Republiek, diss. University of Amsterdam 2008, pp. 113, 335.

Jan Jacobsz Lansman (1618-1666)
Sergeant of presumably district XXXII in 1651, where he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 20 August 1658. He became captain of district XVII on 10 August 1663. Reformed. Rope manufacturer and from 1665 until his death director of Levantine trade. Lived on Nieuwendijk (no. 70) in district V.⁶⁵⁶⁵J.A. Jochems, Amsterdams oude burgervendels (schutterij), 1580-1795, Amsterdam 1888, pp. 53, 62; F.C. van der Meer van Kuffeler, ‘Genealogisch dagboek van Hendrietta Lansman’, De Nederlandsche Leeuw 32 (1914), cols. 42-47, 72-77, 105-09, esp. cols. 44-46; J.G. van Dillen, Bronnen tot de geschiedenis van het bedrijfsleven en het gildewezen van Amsterdam, III, The Hague 1974, p. 745, no. 1568; S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, ‘“Het Embder ofte Condees Hoeckgen” in het kohier van 1585: De familie Hooft aan de Nieuwendijk’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 73 (1981), pp. 25-50, esp. pp. 49, 50. SA, DTB 459, p. 252, 11 June 1643; SA, Transportakten 18 April 1687.

Willem Jansz Buys
This guardsman has not been identified.

Jan Evertsz van Heerden (Heerde 1581-?)
Reformed. Bookseller and publisher. Lived in a house called ‘De Delftsche Bijbel’ on Damrak in district V.⁶⁶⁶⁶J. van Lennep and J. ter Gouw, De uithangteekens, in verband met geschiedenis en volksleven beschouwd, II, Amsterdam 1868, p. 245; J.G. Frederiks and P.J. Frederiks, Kohier van den tweehonderdsten penning voor Amsterdam en onderhoorige plaatsen over 1631: Uitgegeven vanwege het Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1890, fol. 72r, no. 33, fol. 72v, no. 34.

Jan Evertsz Mattijs
This guardsman has not been identified.

See Key to abbreviations, Rijksmuseum painting catalogues and Acknowledgements

K. Bauch, Jacob Adriaensz Backer, ein Rembrandtschüler aus Friesland, Berlin 1926, pp. 3, 35, 41-44, 45, 100, no. 232; Ruurs in A. Blankert and R. Ruurs, Amsterdams Historisch Museum: Schilderijen daterend van voor 1800, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1975/79, pp. 19-21, no. 18; E. Haverkamp-Begemann, Rembrandt: The Nightwatch, Princeton 1982, pp. 59, 67-68, 82, 87, 92, 102, note 97; P. van den Brink, ‘Uitmuntend schilder in het groot: De schilder en tekenaar Jacob Adriaensz. Backer’, in P. van den Brink and J. van der Veen, Jacob Backer (1608/9-1651), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Museum Het Rembrandthuis)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2008-09, pp. 26-84, esp. p. 57; P. van den Brink, ‘Jacob Adriaensz Backer: Complete Overview of his Paintings’, no. A92, with earlier literature – CD-ROM accompanying the aforementioned exh. cat. Amsterdam/Aachen 2008-09; S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, ‘The Night Watch and the Entry of Marie de’ Medici: A New Interpretation of the Original Place and Significance of the Painting’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 57 (2009), pp. 4-41, esp. pp. 5, 11, 21; H. Colenbrander, ‘De decoratie van de Grote Zaal van de Kloveniersdoelen: Een vooropgezet plan?’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 105 (2013), pp. 218-37, esp. pp. 222-24; H. Colenbrander, ‘Hoe hoog hing de Nachtwacht?: Een kwestie van ellen, voeten en duimen’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 105 (2013), pp. 238-75, esp. pp. 247-49, 252, 262-63, 265; E.E. Kok, Culturele ondernemers in de Gouden Eeuw: De artistieke en sociaal-economische strategieën van Jacob Backer, Govert Flinck, Ferdinand Bol en Joachim von Sandrart, diss., University of Amsterdam 2013, pp. 96-97; N. Middelkoop, ‘“Met schuttersschilderijen behangen”: De Amsterdamse schuttersstukken in de drie doelens’, Jaarboek Amstelodamum 105 (2013), pp. 12-107, esp. pp. 73, 88; N. Middelkoop, Schutters, gildebroeders, regenten en regentessen: Het Amsterdamse corporatiestuk 1525-1850, 2 vols., diss., University of Amsterdam 2019, pp. 188-90

1926, p. 17, no. 399a; 1934, p. 34, no. 399a; 1960, pp. 25-26, no. 398 A1; 1976, p. 93, no. C 1174

Jonathan Bikker, 2023, 'Jacob Adriaensz. Backer, Officers and Other Civic Guardsmen of District V in Amsterdam, under the Command of Captain Cornelis de Graeff and Lieutenant Hendrick Laurensz, 1642', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.5862