What was once Rembrandt’s largest painting returns home

Rembrandt’s painting The Conspiracy of the Batavians Under Claudius Civilis, returns to Amsterdam on March 21 to hang in the Rijksmuseum.

The three-metre wide canvas, painted in 1661-1662, belongs to the National Museum in Stockholm but is on loan to the Rijksmuseum while the building is being renovated.

The painting was commissioned by Amsterdam city council for the town hall but was returned to Rembrandt. Its original size of 6.5 by 6 metres made it his largest painting, but also difficult to sell and the painter cut it down to 3 by 2 metres.

It depicts an episode from the Batavian rebellion of 69-70 AD led by the one-eyed chieftan Claudius Civilis.

It is the second time the painting has been on view in the Rijksmuseum. It hung there in 1969.

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