Controversial Film about the 'Night Watch'. Peter Greenaway's Rembrandt’s J’Accuse

Controversial Film about the 'Night Watch'. Peter Greenaway's Rembrandt’s J’Accuse
Peter Greenaway takes his Rembrandt conspiracy theory to the big screen

by Melissa Tuckman
(Source: Artnews) The Night Watch has been on public view since its completion in 1642. But according to experimental filmmaker Peter Greenaway, Rembrandt’s masterwork is studded with unexplained mysteries. If the painting was meant to be a portrait of a militia company, Greenaway asks, why aren’t the soldiers in uniform? Who is the out-of-place girl in gold? And is she a child, a dwarf, or an angel? Even more troubling is the soldier standing behind the central officers: why does he appear to be shooting a musket into the middle of a crowd?

Greenaway is convinced that the painting contains satirical—and sinister—hidden messages. In his latest documentary, Rembrandt’s J’Accuse, which will be shown this month at the San Francisco International Film Festival, as well as at Hot Docs in Toronto, he speculates that The Night Watch is “a pointed finger” that attacks the militia company depicted here for corruption, child prostitution, and murder.

The Night Watch is most often described as a lively group portrait that glorifies an Amsterdam militia company. But Greenaway has reached a wildly different conclusion: the image exposes a real-world criminal plot. According to Greenaway, Amsterdam in the 17th century was violent and inadequately policed. Rembrandt’s J’Accuse proposes that the captain in The Night Watch, Frans Banning Cocq, could have murdered his way to the top. Furthermore, Rembrandt may have known about the crime.

Instead of conducting formal research, Greenaway bases his analysis on visual clues—a method that concerns some art historians since the film is presented as a documentary. Ernst van de Wetering, head of the Rembrandt Research Project in Amsterdam, worries that the movie will be “so misleading to the general ill-informed public” that it could undermine serious scholarly work. Bas Dudok van Heel, a historian at the Amsterdam Municipal Archive, dismisses the whole film outright, objecting, “The pretended research of Mr. Greenaway has never been done. All his figures are invented.”
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http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2676&current=True

(Comment Trendsbridge)
Of course the film is based on a 'Conspiracy Theory', and in recent history Amsterdam has been one of the worst governed cities in the Netherlands for many years. Although the film is presented as a documentary an until now unseen element of truth could be in this movie. Quite a few artists have always seen or felt more than there seemed to be at first sight. But this is not a welcome message for the 'holier than holy' Dutch Authorities.

The Night Watch.The identity of the men portrayed in the portrait has at last been revealed

De schutters op de Nachtwacht, "wie is wie?, download PDF

(Source Art Daily) AMSTERDAM More than 365 years since the Night Watch was completed, the identity of the men portrayed in the portrait has at last been revealed. Dutch historian Bas Dudok van Heel has unravelled the mystery after years of research in archives and inventories of estates. A precise description can now also be made of the great hall of the civic guard building known as Kloveniersdoelen (today’s Doelen Hotel in Amsterdam), the room for which Rembrandt originally painted the Night Watch. These astonishing findings are premiered in the English edition of The Rijksmuseum

Namen schutters op Nachtwacht achterhaald
(Bron: Blik op Nieuws) Amsterdam - Ruim 365 jaar na het schilderen van De Nachtwacht is eindelijk de identiteit bekend van de schutters die op het schilderij afgebeeld staan. ‘Historicus Bas Dudok van Heel heeft dit mysterie ontrafeld, na jaren van onderzoek in archieven en boedelinventarissen’, meldt het Rijksmuseum donderdag.
Ook is nu duidelijk geworden hoe de grote zaal van de Kloveniersdoelen, het huidige Doelen Hotel in Amsterdam, er precies uit heeft gezien, de zaal waarvoor Rembrandt De Nachtwacht oorspronkelijk heeft geschilderd.
Deze opzienbarende bevindingen zijn gepubliceerd in de eerste Engelstalige editie van The Rijksmuseum Bulletin dat vandaag gepresenteerd wordt op de Tefaf, de belangrijkste kunst- en antiekbeurs ter wereld, in Maastricht.
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Download pdf en ontdek de Nachtwacht opnieuw
http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/attachments/persmap/Rijks_TEFAF_wand_nachtwacht_CORR.pdf

Bekijk hier 'Wie is wie op De Nachtwacht' op RTL Nieuws
Identificatie van de schutters op de Nachtwacht
http://www.rtl.nl/components/actueel/rtlnieuws/miMedia/2009/week11/do_1930_nachtwacht.avi_plain.xml

Omstreeks 1715 werd al een schild met namen toegevoegd aan De Nachtwacht, achttien in totaal. Slechts in enkele gevallen was bekend welke naam bij welk gezicht hoorde. Dudok van Heel ging op zoek naar de mensen achter die namen. Hij onderzocht hun families, hun welstand en hun zakenrelaties. Hij vond zelfs in boedelinventarissen bepaalde stukken kleding en uitrusting die op De Nachtwacht zijn afgebeeld. Dit alles legde hij naast de leeftijden van de schutters in 1642, het jaar dat het schilderij werd voltooid. Zo wist hij iedere naam voor het eerst te koppelen aan een persoon afgebeeld op het schilderij.