A Group of Guardsmen, 1529

Amsterdam was still a Catholic city under Emperor Charles V when its arquebusiers, the civic guardsmen armed with early guns, had this panel painted in 1529. It began as a single picture. About 30 years later two wings with more guardsmen were added, and they could close over it like the doors of a church altarpiece, which is why an inventory of the arquebusiers' hall in 1653 lists it simply as an old piece with two doors. The panel shown here is the centre, where 17 men in black caps look out from two rows behind a ledge, some pointing, some resting a hand on a neighbour's shoulder, one holding the barrel of a gun. The date runs across the ledge, ANO DNI 1529, with the painter's monogram. Just below it sits the man the others point towards, probably their captain.