Rembrandt copied another artist’s dog for his famous Night Watch painting

A curator at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum has discovered more or less by accident that a barking dog in Rembrandt’s famous Night Watch painting is a near-identical copy of a 1619 drawing by fellow Dutch artist Adriaen van de Venne.

Anne Lenders said: “I wasn’t looking for this. It was really unexpected.”

She was visiting an exhibition at the Zeeuws Museum in the south of the Netherlands when her eye fell on a picture of a dog by Van de Venne that was printed in a book by the poet Jacob Cats.

The original drawing – which turned out to be part of the Rijksmuseum’s own vast collection – was also on display.

“The resemblance is so strong that at the very first moment I thought he (Rembrandt) must have used this,” she added.

That is when the research started: a comparison of Van de Venne’s and Rembrandt’s dogs; their pose, even the collar they wear.

“The head turns in exactly the same angle with the mouth slightly opened… Both dogs have long hair and ears that hang vertical,” said Lenders.

In the Night Watch, the dog adds tension to a dark corner of the crowded composition, crouching and apparently barking near a drummer called Jacob Jorisz and just behind one of the famous 1642 painting’s main characters, Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch.

The discovery is the latest in a series of revelations to emerge during a project to re-examine the canvas using modern techniques. Operation Night Watch began in 2019 with an extensive study of the painting and is continuing with restoration work that is likely to take years to complete.

“One tends to think, well, it’s been researched so well, we know everything about it,” Rijksmuseum director Taco Dibbits said. “But the great thing with great art is that you always keep discovering things.”

One thing the Rijksmuseum could not figure out was exactly what kind of dog it is, with expert opinions divided between a French or a Dutch breed. Most likely, the two artists used a little poetic licence.

“We will never have a conclusion on which breed it is,” Mr Dibbits said. “But it’s definitely very much loved.”