Subject: schutter 'shooter' militiaman

Culture: Dutch

Setting: Gouden Eeuw, Netherlands 17thc

Event Photos

Primary Sources

* Royal Armouries Museum > War Gallery

"Dutch Civic Guards Towns and cities in Holland formed Civic Guards from their inhabitants. In the 17th century a tradition developed of each company of guardsmen having a group portrait painted. The most famous of these is Rembrandt's 'The Night Watch'.

"These paintings are an accurate portrayal of both the guardsmen and their arms and armour. Because of the wide timespan covered by the paintings, they have contributed greatly to our knowledge of the development of and fashions in arms and armour of the 16th and 17th centuries."

* Haley 1972 p133

"The only large portraits were those of the groups of schutterij, such as Hals painted in Haarlem and Rembrandt in the Night Watch: these would be hung on the walls of the doelen, whereas those of individual sitters were intended for the more intimate surroundings of a house."

Secondary Sources

Field Notes