''The Sampling Officials'' ( nl, De Staalmeesters), also called ''Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild'' ( nl, De waardijns van het Amsterdamse lakenbereidersgilde), is a 1662 oil painting by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

. It is currently owned by the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

in Amsterdam. It has been described as his "last great collective portrait". The men (with the exception of Bel who is an attendant as indicated by his calotte) are drapers who were elected to assess the quality of cloth that weavers offered for sale to members of their guild. Their one-year terms in office began on

Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...

and they were expected to conduct their inspections thrice weekly. The Dutch word ''staal'' means 'sample' and refers to the samples of cloth that were assessed. The inspectors used pliers to press the seals of their city (front) and guild (reverse) into penny-sized slugs of lead that were specially affixed to record the results of the inspection. There were four grades of quality, the highest was indicated by pressing four seals and the lowest by pressing only one. The men, who are appraising a length of Persian-style fabric against exemplars from a swatch book, are (from left to right): *Jacob van Loon (1595–1674) *Volckert Jansz (1605 or 1610–1681) *Willem van Doeyenburg (ca. 1616–1687) *Frans Hendricksz Bel (1629–1701) *Aernout van der Mye (ca.1625–1681) *Jochem de Neve (1629–1681) The guild commissioned this portrait and it hung in their guildhall, the ''Staalhof'' ( nl), until 1771. The painting is used on the packaging of

Dutch Masters Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republ ...

cigars. The painting is also seen on the wall in H. G. Wells' house in the opening sequence of '' The Time Machine''. The painting has a prominent part in Jeffrey Archer's 2019 book "Nothing Ventured".

References

External links