Rembrandt Copied The Dog In The Night Watch, His "Most Original Artwork"

It didn't exactly take dogged detective work for an art sleuth in Amsterdam to solve a canine conundrum dating back to the Dutch Golden Age.

Anne Lenders, a curator at the city's landmark Rijksmuseum, said on Tuesday that it was more or less by accident that she discovered the barking dog in Rembrandt van Rijn's famous Night Watch is a near-identical copy of one featured in a 1619 pen-and-ink drawing by fellow Dutch artist Adriaen van de Venne.

"I wasn't looking for this; it was really unexpected," Lenders said in the glass room where Night Watch is undergoing extensive restoration.

She was visiting an exhibition at the Zeeuws Museum in the southern Netherlands when her eye fell on a picture of a dog by Van de Venne, 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 was when the research began: a comparison of Van de Venne's and Rembrandt's dogs - their pose, even the collar they wear.

"The head turns at exactly the same angle, with the mouth slightly open. ... Both dogs have long hair and ears that hang vertically," 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 named Jacob Jorisz and just behind one of the iconic painting's main figures, Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch.

The discovery is the latest in a series of revelations to emerge during a years-long project to re-examine the 379.5 by 453.5-centimetre (149.4 by 178.5-inch) canvas using modern techniques. Operation Night Watch began in 2019 with an extensive study of the painting and continues with restoration work that is likely to take years to complete.

The Night Watch has long been celebrated as one of the most original and innovative works of the Dutch Golden Age, yet this discovery reveals a surprising connection to a fellow artist's earlier work.

"One tends to think, well, it's been researched so thoroughly, 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 couldn't determine 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," Dibbits said. "But it's definitely very much loved."