Militia Company of District VIII in Amsterdam under the Command of Captain Roelof Bicker

Around 1640 the arquebusiers of Amsterdam's civic guard were decorating the great hall of their headquarters, the Kloveniersdoelen, with group portraits of their companies. Six big canvases were ordered from several painters, and Rembrandt's became the Night Watch. This one, by the young Van der Helst, shows the company of District VIII under Captain Roelof Bicker, a member of the powerful Bicker family. It is seven and a half metres wide, and Van der Helst lines the men up in one long row, every face lit well enough to be recognised. That mattered, since the guardsmen paid to be in the picture. The background is a real place, the De Haan brewery on the Lastage, the harbour district. At the far left edge, a man looking out at us is taken to be Van der Helst himself. The canvas belongs to the City of Amsterdam and hangs in the Rijksmuseum on loan.