The Borrowed Bark: Rediscovering Rembrandt’s canine inspiration

In the crowded and dramatic world of Rembrandt van Rijn’s Night Watch, painted in 1642, few viewers pause to consider the small dog crouched and barking in a shadowed corner. For centuries, the animal has been seen as a colourful detail, adding movement and tension near the drummer Jacob Jorisz and the brightly dressed Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch. Yet a recent discovery has revealed that this canine is not entirely Rembrandt’s own creation, but a borrowed figure with an intriguing backstory.

Rembrandt’s Night Watch dog traced to Van de Venne

The revelation comes courtesy of Anne Lenders, curator at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, where The Night Watch currently undergoes painstaking restoration as part of “Operation Night Watch”. During a visit to an exhibition at the Zeeuws Museum in the southern Netherlands, Lenders’ attention was caught by a familiar-looking image in a book by the poet Jacob Cats. The image was based on a 1619 pen-and-ink drawing by Adriaen van de Venne, another artist of the Dutch Golden Age.

“I wasn’t looking for this; it was really unexpected,” Lenders recalled. The resemblance between Van de Venne’s sketch and Rembrandt’s painted dog was immediate. The original drawing, long held in the Rijksmuseum’s collection, was also on view. “The head turns in the exact same angle with the mouth slightly opened. Both dogs have long hair and ears that hang vertical. At that moment, I thought he must have used this,” she explained.

Her observation led to further study, comparing the details of both works. Even the dog’s collar matches between the sketch and the painting. The finding suggests that Rembrandt, famed for his originality and mastery of light, was not above borrowing a compelling detail from a fellow artist.

The discovery adds a new chapter to The Night Watch’s ongoing re-examination. “Operation Night Watch” began in 2019 as an ambitious programme to study and restore the massive canvas — which measures nearly four by five metres — using state-of-the-art imaging and conservation techniques. Rijksmuseum Director Taco Dibbits sees Lenders’ finding as proof that even the most thoroughly studied masterpieces can yield fresh surprises. “One tends to think, well, it’s been researched so well, we know everything about it. But the great thing with great art is that you always keep discovering things,” he said.

The identity of the dog itself remains uncertain. Experts debate whether it depicts a French or Dutch breed, though neither conclusion is definitive. Dibbits suspects both Van de Venne and Rembrandt may have taken artistic licence. “We will never have a conclusion on which breed it is,” he noted. “But it’s definitely very much loved.”

In The Night Watch, the dog plays a small but telling role. Its bark punctuates the bustling assembly of militiamen, echoing the sense of urgency and disorder in a scene otherwise carefully staged. Knowing that the animal originated in another artist’s hand does not diminish its effect; instead, it reveals the interconnected world of Dutch Golden Age art, where ideas, motifs and figures circulated freely among painters, poets and engravers.

The borrowed dog is a reminder that even the greatest artists drew inspiration from those around them, transforming and recontextualising images to suit their own vision. In this case, Van de Venne’s sketch, made more than twenty years earlier, found new life in Rembrandt’s monumental masterpiece, ensuring that the small barking figure has endured in the cultural imagination for nearly four centuries.

Far from diminishing Rembrandt’s genius, the discovery highlights the collaborative and interwoven fabric of art history — proof that every detail, even a dog in the shadows, has a story worth uncovering.

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