On the far left of The Night Watch we can see a young lad running – almost out of the picture. Wearing a helmet that is much too large for him, he brings a comical aspect to Rembrandt’s painting. This so-called ‘powder boy’ wears a horn dangling from his neck that is filled with gunpowder. His main task was to ensure the militiamen never ran out of gunpowder.

Bandolier

To the right of the powder boy we see a militiaman loading his musket. We can clearly see he’s wearing a bandolier from which small powder cases hang, each containing enough gunpowder for a single shot. You’ll find a fine example of just such a bandolier on display in the museum. Once a musketeer had used up all his powder, the powder boy would leap into action to resupply him. The boy’s powder container is probably a cow’s horn. The Rijksmuseum has several of these in its collection, including this 16th-century example.

Special occasions

Powder boys were brought in to assist the militiamen on special occasions such as the celebrations for the arrival in Amsterdam in 1638 of Maria de' Medici, the Queen Mother of France. We know this thanks to an illustration in the description by Casparus Barlaeus of this great event. It was also the powder boy’s job to provide thirsty militiamen with refreshment.

The powder boy who vanished

This powder boy is one of the many figures that Rembrandt added to the 16 militiamen who paid for the portrait. None of them except the drummer has been identified. They include four children – in addition to the two girls behind Frans Banninck Cocq and the powder boy discussed here, there is a fourth child who is almost certainly also a powder boy. He was positioned even further to the left in the background, on one of the strips of canvas that were cut from the original painting, probably in 1715. The temporary reconstruction of the missing pieces means we can now also see this figure.

Movement

Powder boys would have been a very familiar sight when a civil militia set out on a mission, but Rembrandt was the only artist to include them in a schuttersstuk, or militia portrait. And he did so with good reason, because showing the powder boy in the foreground – and running – was very much in keeping with the boy’s job of resupplying powder on time to each musketeer. By including the powder boys, Rembrandt represents every aspect of the militia group as they move out. And showing this figure running heightens the sense of dynamism for the entire group: it’s like a well-oiled machine gradually building a head of steam. Dashing about like this, the powder boy seems in some way to be heralding the resolute goose-step with which the militiamen would march towards their target.