2017-08-16

【Aiden in English】

        Today marks our last day of the Viking pre-cruise. So far, the entire adventure has been focused on the Netherlands, more specifically, the area around Amsterdam. While there is a lot to explore, Amsterdam sets up something much greater, and I think it is time to move on. But not before seeing the most popular Dutch Golden Age art piece at Rijksmuseum: The Night Watch.

        I'm not sure why the Night Watch received its name, but it certainly not doing anything with watching a night sky. It could, however, be a play on words and be about watching Knights. Regardless, I am still skeptical of the name for the Shooting Company. Whatever I think of the name, others don't seem to care, which resulted in 500-million-dollar insurance.

        Our guide, Martin, masterfully crafted us through the rows to the Night Watch, building suspense and support as he slowly fed us the information about the Golden Age. This period came around when the East India trading company exploded in the 1500-1700 century. The massive increase in wealth also increased in art, therefore many famous painters were born within this time frame, like Rembrandt.

        This time frame also saw the change in the painting styles. From self-portraits and still life, the spotlight later focused on the ordinary people. By the time Rembrandt made the Night Watch, paintings had changed dramatically. The Rijksmuseum or the National Museum where we were walking through, held an essential timeline of the Dutch Golden Age of art, comparing to the changes century after century. The layout was so ingenious that all the smaller yet beautiful pieces of art on the sides of an enormous gallery.  The Night Watch was hung at the end of the hall to tease and motivate visitors to reach the end. Of course, you could always cheat and head straight for that painting, but we were on a guided tour.

        At last, after a good two hours lecturing over the details of refined still lives, we reached the highlight of the museum. Upon recently investing half a billion dollars into "insurance", the new Night Watch was safely protected under the watchful eyes of two guards who were about to fall asleep. Rembrandt mastered a technique of having those in the painting of staring at the audience as if asking for you to step in. Obviously, it sometimes felt creepy in his paintings when there were twenty eyes staring at you, but the Night Watch balanced out between creepiness and shyness. Mainly focused on two figures in the foreground, the scene depicted men running through an arch. The people in the painting, all real in reality, paid large sums of money to be shown. And most were pissed off when Rembrandt only showed give-or-take ten people's faces clearly (including his own). I thought the artwork seemed almost comical, like a Hollywood film of victory except that no one knew what they were doing. But after seeing the main figure's expression of stone seriousness, I didn't laugh.

        I guess that it could be one of the most famous paintings I've seen, considering it greatly surpassed the Aiden inspection. I felt as if I could sit there and watch for a good two hours... with some food and a movie. Although I'm still not sure why it's called the Night Watch, it is something that I would want to watch.

【红霞译文】

        今个儿是上船前最后一天出游，截止到目前为止，我们整个行踪全部锁定在荷兰境内，更具体地说集中在阿姆斯特丹地区，尽管投注的精力越大，发掘的东西也就越多，我觉得到了该翻篇的时候啦，不过临行之际先要前往国家博物馆欣赏一幅荷兰黄金时代艺术杰作：《夜巡》。

        我不清楚《夜巡》何以得名，但绝对与仰望夜空毫不搭尕，没准与台词相关，牵扯涉到骑士题材的作品。无论如何，我还是疑惑为射手队绘画而起的名字，甭管我怎么惦记，别人也许根本不在乎，结果反倒不如先投保五亿美元金额再说。

        导游马丁以其娴熟的技能带我们穿越重重人海来到《夜巡》画前，一边慢慢向我们灌输黄金时代相关信息，一边引出悬念与依据。十六─十八世纪年间正值荷兰东印度贸易公司生意兴隆，财富的大幅增长势必促进艺术发展，因此许多像伦勃朗这样的著名画家便应运而生。

        这段时期的画风也随之大有改观，绘画焦点已从自画像静物画转移到老百姓身上，此时伦勃朗的肖像画《夜巡》横空问世，给绘画艺术带来了翻天覆地的变化。我们正在浏览的阿姆斯特丹国家博物馆收藏了过去几百年间荷兰黄金时代最重要的艺术瑰宝，其画廊布局极其巧妙，大厅两侧都是画幅较小但画技精湛的传世佳作；《夜巡》悬挂在展厅尽端，成心刺激游人坚持到底，当然你大可巧取捷径直奔画前，而我们则受制于导游安排。

        经过两个小时现场优美静物教育，我们终于来到博物馆最诱人的地方，因为近来刚刚买下五亿“保险”金额，新的《夜巡》正在两名睡眼惺忪的保安监视下受到安全保护。伦勃朗擅长把画中人物目光投向观众，好像邀你加入到他们的行列。显然，当廿只眼睛一齐盯住你，有时心里难免发毛，但《夜巡》把胆怯与害羞拿捏得恰到好处。这幅画主要表现前面两位人物，描绘的是男士们穿过拱门，所有人物全都有名有姓，为了能在《夜巡》上露脸，他们不惜豪掷巨资。伦勃朗只画了其中十位（包括画家本人）。我认为艺术品看似滑稽可笑，如同好莱坞电影呼声很高的电影，只是没人知道他们在干些什么。不过当看过主要人物表情严肃的样子之后，我笑不出来。

        《夜巡》可能是本人看到的最为有名的作品之一，大大超越儿歌评判水准，恐怕我能坐在那里再盯上个把钟头……加上边吃边看电影。尽管我还弄不明白为何称作《夜巡》，但它毕竟是自己想要看的东西。

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2014: St. Stan''s Summer Festival(圣斯坦夏季狂欢节)

Crosslinks(相关博文):

Netherlands(出游荷兰)

Europe(欧洲掠影)