Take my hand

Captain Frans Banninck Cocq’s hand seems to stick right out of the painting. With this gesture he orders his lieutenant to call the company into action: the militiamen have to march out.

Perfectly lit

The captain’s hand casts a shadow on the costume worn by Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch. This indicates the direction from which the light falls in the painting.

The mascot

Hanging from the girl’s waist-band is a chicken with large claws, behind which can just be seen a kind of pistol known as a ‘klover’. The claws and the klover were the symbols of this militia company, the ‘Kloveniers’, or Arquebusiers, and the girl serves as the company’s ‘mascot’.

Rembrandt, is that you?

This figure with just one eye visible and wearing a beret may well be Rembrandt himself. The exposed part of the face bears a resemblance to some of his self-portraits.

To the left, to the left

Sergeant Rombout Kemp points to the left. Rembrandt introduced action into the painting by means of this gesture.

Dividing lines

Mondrian is best known for his abstract paintings of black lines and colored squares. Even in this more figurative painting, he divides the canvas into sections with bands of darkness and color.

A lonely figure

Did you spot this lonely figure striding across the bridge to the windmill?

Reflecting colors

The 'streaked sky' is reflected into multicolored ripples in the water, interrupted by the looming shadow of the mill.