Rembrandt’s Standard Bearer: On Costume, Comedy, and Self-Portrayal, circa 1627–1637

At the acquisition of Rembrandt van Rijn’s The Standard Bearer (1636), the Rijksmuseum and the Dutch government presented the subject of the painting as a symbol of the heroic fight against the Spanish, decisive for the birth of the independent Netherlands, and as an image of the strength and courage of civic guard companies and the intrepidity of the standard bearer. This article argues that Rembrandt instead presented himself provocatively as a comedian-painter, satirizing the image of the conceited standard bearer, well-known from both reality and comic roles in contemporary theater. Simultaneously, Rembrandt displays an unrivaled virtuoso handling in competition with the admired Frans Hals.