He conceived the picture as a whole, with its strong light and shade, the picturesque crossing lines of the lances, and the natural array of the figures.

By wiseacres, the picture was said to represent a scene at night, lit by torch-light, and was actually called the 'Night Watch,' though the shadow of the captain's hand is of the size of the hand itself, and not greater, being cast by the sun.

Later generations have valued it as one of the unsurpassed pictures in the world; but it is said that contemporary Dutch feeling waxed high against Rembrandt for having dealt in this supremely artistic manner with an order for seventeen portraits, and that he suffered severely in consequence.
Certainly he had fewer orders.

The prosperous class abandoned him.
His pictures remained unsold, and his revenue dwindled.
Rembrandt was thirty-six years of age and at the very height of his powers, at the time of the failure of this his greatest picture.

His mature style of painting continued to displease his contemporaries, who preferred the work of less innovating artists who painted good likenesses smoothly.