remainder of ancient fortifications, sketched by Rembrandt as we saw on
_plate 12_. Next to this building was the Doelen (part of its back can be
seen on the master's above-mentioned drawing), the meeting-place of the
civic guards, now changed into a hotel of the same name, but in
Rembrandt's day the place where the painter's most famous picture, _The
Night Watch_, was kept, since a captain of the guards, Banning Cocq, had
the daring idea of entrusting Rembrandt with the commission to portray him
and his company. Two houses further along the street (a site now occupied
by a bank, next to Messrs. Frederik Muller & Co.) we must pay attention to
the place where Rembrandt lived in 1636. After his removal from his cousin
Uylenburgh's house, Rembrandt himself states this address as "next to the
pensionary Boreel" in a letter to the Prince of Orange's secretary,
Huygens, a letter now preserved in the collection of Mr. Paul Warburg in
New York. That house must have been brand new in 1636, as building on
that side of the Doelenstraat was only started in 1635 (plates _18_, _19_,
and _20_). It seems, however, not to have satisfied the painter, because
three years later, before his removal to his own house in the St.
Anthoniebreestraat, he gives his address, in another letter to Huygens, as
being on the Amstel in a house called De suikerbakkery (the sugar
refinery) the exact situation of which has not yet been traced.

[Plate 18. The "doelenstraat" In Amsterdam (old situation) ]

Plate 18. The "doelenstraat" In Amsterdam (old situation) The receding
building, behind the low wall with gate, on the right, is the "Doelen" for
which Rembrandt painted "The Night Watch." The house where the master
lived in 1636 was next to the house seen on the extreme right. The tower
seen above the roof is the one sketched by Rembrandt (_plate 12_). Compare
also _plate 20_ After the drawing by R. Vinkeles in the Archives in
Amsterdam

Returning from this Doelenstraat to Rembrandt's restored house where we
started our little excursion, and taking a street called the Staalstraat
on our right, we should observe a building on our left called the
Staalhof, the birthplace of that other masterpiece, rivalling _The Night
Watch_ in fame, namely The Staalmeesters (The Syndics). When this great
painting was achieved in 1661, Rembrandt, forced by the sale of his house,
had already left this quarter of the town