Experts at the Rijksmuseum have revealed that the barking dog in Rembrandt's masterpiece The Night Watch was largely copied from a drawing by a lesser-known Dutch artist, Adriaen van de Venne. The discovery was made by curator Anne Lenders, who noticed the similarities while visiting an exhibition in Middelburg last year.
Lenders identified the source as a canine illustration on the title page of a 17th-century guide by Jacob Cats on resisting sexual temptation. The chalk underdrawing of The Night Watch, revealed through recent hi-tech scans, showed even more similarities, confirming the link.
Rembrandt modified the dog in his final painting, giving it a more active pose with its tongue out, despite this being anatomically incorrect for a barking dog. Taco Dibbits, general director of the Rijksmuseum, compared Rembrandt's practice to Shakespeare's, noting that copying from earlier sources was considered 'emulation' rather than plagiarism in the 17th century.
Dibbits explained that Rembrandt aimed to compete with Italian masters like Raphael and Michelangelo, and such borrowing was a common artistic technique. The dog's placement in the shadows was a deliberate device to add excitement and action to the corner of the painting, according to Lenders.
