Wealth cannot be promiscuous - Exploring the origin of the work "Night Watch" from the height of Rembrandt's personality Rembrandt (1606.7.15-1669.10.4), a great Dutch artist in the 17th century, with his extraordinary With his talent in painting, he easily achieved artistic success early on and lived a superior life. In the later period, because he insisted on his artistic principles, which was not tolerated by the vulgar business rules of the time, he was abandoned by the market and ultimately spent the rest of his life in poverty. 1 The prosperity of life is accompanied by the victory of the bourgeois revolution. In the Netherlands in the 17th century, capitalism began to be established, with economic prosperity, political independence and freedom, coupled with the decline of the old Catholicism, the new Calvinist sect refused to With many factors such as the use of images to promote doctrines in churches, Dutch painting quickly got rid of its dependence on the court aristocracy and the Catholic Church and entered the life of the emerging civil class. The aesthetic taste of the wealthy citizen class has greatly led the development of painting art, causing the theme content of art to change accordingly. The new focus is on portraiture depicting the image of ordinary citizens. Because of its powerful image recording function, it is easy to help people confirm Blood relationship, social identity and class status, and widely respected by the public, painting has entered a new and prosperous golden age. The prosperity of the art market has enabled many talented artists to quickly gain fame and a lot of wealth, and lead an enviable and privileged life. Rembrandt was a talented painter who grew up in such a social background. He entered Leiden University at the age of 14. Later, because he was determined to become an outstanding painter, he stopped his studies midway and switched to painting. At the age of 19, he began to accept apprentices and accept painting orders. At the age of 26, he painted "Professor Dupu's Anatomy Lesson". This group portrait won him great reputation and attracted a large number of orders. At the age of 28, he married Shakespeare. This rich man’s daughter not only brought him abundant wealth, but also ensured his creative freedom. During this period, Rembrandt was a leader in both career and family. It was smooth sailing. 2 Rembrandt, a noble personality painter, was born in a family that cared about the destiny of the country and fought for national freedom. He was influenced and influenced by progressive ideas since his childhood. His desire and responsibility for national independence and personal freedom were deeply buried in his soul. , will sprout once given the right opportunity. Therefore, a prosperous life cannot satisfy him, but it is the artist's bounden duty and responsibility to realize a noble spirit with more connotation. This is just as he believes: "What is more important than money is reputation, and what is more important than reputation is freedom." Master of Art Leonardo da Vinci once said that a painter who only paints portraits cannot be called a master. Rembrandt also deeply felt that the current popular portrait creation mode, although technically impeccable, has serious flaws in spiritual height and value pursuit, which can easily lead people to vanity, selfishness, paralysis, and insensitive personal enjoyment. Cultural trends have led to the vulgarization of painting art. Whether it is out of his mission and responsibility for art, or the defense of freedom and reputation, he must abandon this method of making money based on counting heads and engage in true artistic creation. 3 The Bright Flower of Personality After the independence of the Netherlands, militias were organized in every city to guard against attacks by Spanish mercenaries. In 1642, Rembrandt accepted a reservation for a collective portrait of 16 officers, including the captain of the Amsterdam militia company. It is said that each of them paid the same amount of money, hoping to get a decent position and image in the picture. The responsibilities and qualities of the militiamen to defend their country and freedom deeply touched Rembrandt's heart and aroused his inner desire to express freedom and responsibility. He hoped to find in these militia some noble qualities related to freedom and responsibility. Therefore, he seriously thought about this subject and worked hard to break the previous conventions of portraiture of this type of group and change simple portraits into historical paintings. For this reason, he not only changed the fixed mode of depicting each person's image equally, but also expanded the size of the guard on his own initiative, and separated the levels of the characters in the painting through unique composition and sharp contrast between light and dark. More Pay attention to the inner activities of the characters through their movements and expressions.

Rembrandt once made some explanations about this expression: "Show him (referring to Captain Frans Banning Kirk) and his men as leaving the weapons depot to perform a mission. For a moment - everything was still extremely chaotic. An old man was beating a drum to call the police, some soldiers were picking up short spears, others were arranging their guns, children and girls were getting out from under the soldiers' knees, and everyone was talking. There is a dog that is bound to come on every patrol. It is often mixed in the middle of the ranks. Here is a person who is a leader - he is a man of confidence and knows his responsibilities. He moves forward calmly and steadily, because he understands that no matter what he does, Whatever you do, others will be excited to follow.” The final work “Night Patrol” creates a historical war scene with a strong group character and dramatic effect. The atmosphere of this scene is grand, dynamic, tense, and mysterious. , showing the great pursuit of the Dutch people for national independence and embodying people's lofty ideals of fighting for and defending freedom. It truly achieves the effect that Rembrandt expected for art: "I try my best to give the audience an impression of 'citizen obligations', rather than letting the audience see some unrelated citizens doing their own trivial things. . "Rembrandt's devout pursuit of art and high personality, as well as his enthusiasm for free thought and democratic revolution, enabled him to successfully create the image of a group of heroic warriors. But he ignored that in the real life of luxury and enjoyment, these 16 officers had lost their true warrior temperament, and they preferred to use it to show off their vanity. Therefore, when this great work was completed and delivered, not only did it not win their approval, but it was strongly opposed by most people, which caused Rembrandt's reputation to plummet and became the source of his subsequent hardships in life. Of course, the work "Night Watch" supported by the author's noble personality also found a way out for Rembrandt's new highly spiritual realist art in his later period, and influenced the creative direction and spiritual pursuits of later generations. 4 Conclusion Just as a magazine once commented on this work: "Those who know will no longer be comforted, and those who comfort will no longer know. Because of his unique concept of portraiture creation, he is unique in the world of light. Everything that Rembrandt's dreams and ambitions gathered together has once shone. Glowing." Today, the work "Night Watch" is recognized as one of the most important paintings in the world. It is a great work that carries human freedom and responsibility, painted by the painter Rembrandt with the height of his personality that "rich people cannot be promiscuous", transcending the old fixed mode of portraiture. The lofty spiritual value of the understanding and pursuit of freedom contained in the work has always inspired the determination and courage of people around the world to fight for and defend freedom. It is a bright flower that grew up in the soil where the Dutch people fought for independence and freedom. It is also the spiritual wealth that the Netherlands has contributed to the world. Source: Zhiyin Inspirational·Education Edition