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|  The 16
square puzzle using a portion of the fine painting by Rembrandt. When the puzzle is complete, you will jump to a 25
square puzzle with the same image.
You can go there directly by clicking the red square.
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The 25
square puzzle using a portion of the fine painting by Rembrandt. When the puzzle is complete, you will
jump to a 36
square puzzle with the same image.
You can go there directly by clicking the red square.
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The 36
square puzzle using a portion of the fine painting by Rembrandt. When the puzzle is complete, you
will jump to a 49
square puzzle with the same image.
You can go there directly by clicking the red square.
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The 49
square puzzle using a portion of the fine painting by Rembrandt. When the puzzle is complete, you will
jump to a 64
square puzzle with the same image.
You can go there directly by clicking the red square.
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| The 64 square puzzle using a portion of the fine painting by Rembrandt. This puzzle is getting harder yet with such a large image a puzzle with even more pieces would surely work well. Congratulations if you succeed. The applet permits up to a ten square puzzle. If there is any interest in my listing a puzzle of greater difficulty, drop me a line and I'll add it in. Information about the artist and the subject can be found below. |
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The image is of a portion of a painting by Dutch master Rembrandt (Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn) (1606-1669). Commonly known as "The Night Watch", it is perhaps more correctly titled "The Shooting Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq" but the original title, recorded in the still extant family chronicle of Captain Banning Cocq, together with a sketch of the painting, sounds rather dry by comparison: "Sketch of the painting from the Great Hall of Cleveniers Doelen, in which the young Heer van Purmerlandt [Banning Cocq], as captain, orders his lieutenant, the Heer van Vlaerderdingen [Willem van Ruytenburch], to march the company out." (Cocq's lieutenant, Willem van Ruytenburch is the major figure in the light garb). It was painted in 1642 and can be seen at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and on the splendid Rijksmuseum website. The above link should bring to to the very page. Click on Zoom and you will be able to view the painting there in very great detail and can view any part of it by moving around the 1600 x 1333 pixel image on screen. Carol Gerten on her (CGFA) site available here (Japan) or here (U.S.A.) has no complete image on site by rather two images of selected portions of the entire work. Or click here. You can see more of Rembrandt's artwork on the Internet via the list available here.
Rembrandt was the son of a miller and was born in Leiden, located betweem Amsterdam and The Hague, on July 15th 1606. He soon chose to become an artist and moved to Amsterdam in 1631. In 1634, he married Saskia van Uylenburgh and they had four children only one of whom (Titus) survived. He produced about 600 paintings, 300 etchings and perhaps 1,400 drawings during his lifetime. He lived ostentatiously, and declared bankruptcy in 1656. His wife died at the young age of 30 in 1642, and Hendrickje Stoffels, engaged as his housekeeper about 1649, eventually became his common-law wife and a model for many of his pictures. He died in Amsterdam on October 4, 1669.
Rembrandt ranks as one of the greatest painters in the history of Western art. His works include many portraits and many mythological and religious works. This particular painting is an example of his departure from the static nature of staged portraits and portrays the bustling activity of a military company, gathered behind its leaders, preparing for a parade or shooting contest. Popular myth says that the painting was rejected by those who commissioned it and led to a decline in Rembrandt's reputation and fortune, but that would seem to be just a myth. It was actually well received. The painting is oil on canvas and is very large indeed. It is indeed the largest canvas that Rembrandt ever painted being 363 x 437 cm. in size (approx. 12 x 14 1/3 feet). And what we see today in the Rijksmuseum is the painting less a portion cut (2 feet?) from the left side. In the 19th century, the painting, then dark from centuries of grime, became known as "The Night Watch". When they cleaned it, the fact that the painting is a daylight portrayal became apparent but the common name has remained.
You can visit the 17th century house in which Rembrandt lived and worked from 1639 till 1658 on Jodenbreestraat in Amsterdam. The house, in which his son Titus was born and his wife Saskia prematurely died, is also the place where he painted and made his prints. It became a museum in 1911 and now houses almost all of Rembrandt's etchings.
I had to redesign this page to accommodate such a large image. There was no space, even at a 1024 x 768 screen setting, for the thumbnail and the painting to appear side-by-side. The image is big and will take time to load. I did not like the image further compressed.
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The java applet that runs the puzzle is courtesy of Axel Fontaine, who lives just south of the city of Brussels in Belgium. Axel invited free use of his fine applet which you can, I hope, download here. Axel, we thank you!