The Rijksmuseum is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The paining “Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq”, also known as “The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch”, but commonly referred to as “The Night Watch” (Dutch: De Nachtwacht), is a 1642 painting by Rembrandt van Rijn. It is in the collection of the Amsterdam Museum but is prominently displayed in the Rijksmuseum as the best-known painting in its collection. The Night Watch is one of the most famous Dutch Golden Age paintings, - famous for three things: its colossal size (363 by 437 centimetres (12 by 14+1?2 feet)), the dramatic use of light and shadow (tenebrism) and the perception of motion in what would have traditionally been a static military group portrait. The painting was completed in 1642, at the peak of the Dutch Golden Age. In this deposit the museum preserved The Night Watch to make sure that the digitised version of the paining is well preserved and can be made available for the benefit of future generations.
