Rembrandt studied hard over the matter, as he was not content to execute
a picture of a mass of men doing nothing but pose.

It took a year to complete the picture. The canvas shows a band of armed
men, marching forth to the defense of the city in response to a sudden
night alarm. Two brave men lead the throng and the others shade off into
mere Rembrandt shadows, and you only know there are men there by the
nodding plumes, banners and spearheads that glisten in the pale light of
the torches.

When the picture was unveiled, the rich donors looked for themselves on
the canvas, and some looked in vain. Only two men were satisfied, and
these were the two who marched in the vanguard.

"Where am I?" demanded a wealthy shipowner of Rembrandt as the canvas was
scanned in a vain search for his proud features.

"You see the palace there in the picture, do you not?" asked the artist
petulantly.

"Yes, I see that," was the answer.

"Well, you are behind that palace."

The company turned on Rembrandt, and forbade the hanging of any more of
his pictures in the municipal buildings.

Rembrandt shrugged his shoulders. But as the year passed and orders
dropped away, he found how unwise a thing it is to affront the public.
Men who owed him refused to pay, and those whom he owed demanded their