The Syndics of the Drapers Guild

Five officials and a servant

The Syndics were officials of the Amsterdam cloth-makers’ guild who checked the quality of dyed cloth. In 1662, Rembrandt painted five of them, with their servant, gathered around a table covered with a red oriental carpet. In Dutch the painting is called De Staalmeesters.

It belongs to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

They look up as if interrupted

The men look out of the picture as if someone has just entered the room. The central syndic gestures towards an open book. Their attention gives the group portrait a sense of a living moment.

The servant behind

Behind them stands the servant, the only one without a hat. He was not a syndic but worked for them.

Each face distinct

Each man paid to be included and had to be clearly recognisable. Rembrandt gave each one a different pose and expression.

At the right, a syndic holds a purse. Technical studies show that Rembrandt moved several figures while painting to achieve this balanced arrangement.

What did the syndics do?

The Staalmeesters were sample officials of the drapers’ guild. Each year, five members were chosen to inspect cloth made in Amsterdam. They compared each piece with official samples, staal in Dutch, and stamped it with a lead seal showing its quality. The work was important because cloth was one of the city’s major industries.

The book on the table is a sample book, used to check the quality of the dyed cloth. The men are shown in a meeting, examining it.

A moment of interruption

The men seem to look up at someone who has just entered the room, as if we had interrupted their meeting. One is half rising from his chair. This sense of a captured moment makes the group portrait lively. Some have suggested that they are looking at an audience of guild members at a meeting. Either way, their gaze meets ours directly.

Changes beneath the paint

X-rays show that Rembrandt reworked the composition several times. He moved the servant, changed the position of the rising syndic and adjusted the heads. The final arrangement, with the men placed at different heights, gives the picture rhythm and life.

One of Rembrandt’s last commissions

The painting was made at a difficult time for Rembrandt, after his bankruptcy. It shows that he was still respected and received important commissions. The group portrait remained in the guild’s hall until 1771, when it was transferred to the city of Amsterdam. It later entered the Rijksmuseum. The image became widely known in the twentieth century when the American cigar brand Dutch Masters used it on its boxes.

Where to see it

The Syndics hangs in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, near The Night Watch. Our hand-painted oil reproduction follows this composition. For more group and individual portraits, explore our famous portraits.

Questions about The Syndics

Who were the syndics?

Officials of the Amsterdam cloth-makers’ guild who checked the quality of cloth.

Where is it?

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

When was it painted?

In 1662.

Why do they look at us?

Rembrandt made them look up as if interrupted, giving life to the group portrait.

What does Staalmeesters mean?

Sample officials, who checked cloth against official samples.

Why is the image so familiar?

The American cigar brand Dutch Masters used it on its boxes.

Sources and image credit

• Rijksmuseum: The Sampling Officials (De Staalmeesters)
• Wikimedia Commons: De Staalmeesters

Public-domain reproduction of The Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild (1662), via Wikimedia Commons. Detail images are crops of the same image; no reconstruction or upscaling.