Rijksmuseum

A groep of Guardsmen

Date

1529

Medium

panel, oil paint (paint)

Institution

Rijksmuseum

In the earliest known Dutch militia portrait, no fewer than seventeen men gaze at us with pride, including, at the upper right, the painter himself holding a paintbrush. The man fourth from the right in the bottom row is probably the captain. The militias were responsible for urban order, public safety and the defence of the city. This group portrait is a textbook example of bourgeois self-awareness and confidence, and typically Dutch.

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