717 Gigapixel Image of Rembrandt's Nightwatch

I knew from this image that I have sadly not yet been able to see in person.

There is a song by artist "Ayreon" called "The Shooting Company of Captain Frans B. Cocq" [1].

It is part of a concept album that describes the first person experience of the last human on mars that experiences artificial "dreams" induced by a machine traveling through history.

To quote Wikipedia [2] regarding the title of the painting as context:

> Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, also known as The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch, but commonly referred to as The Night Watch (Dutch: De Nachtwacht), is a 1642 painting by Rembrandt van Rijn.

[1]: https://youtu.be/EApiD5JQAH0 [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Watch

Wow, thanks for that. It’s so cool to find out about more modern proggy space rock like this.

I guess this is a better place than any to mention the King Crimson song "The Night Watch", which remarks on the painting and its imagined context.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qCXHghedxw

Glad I'm not alone in loving that song and those 2 albums (Universal Migrator). Absolutely amazing.

That song in particular really captures the feel of walking around old Amsterdam for me, going to see the painting, and having the Dutch Golden Age come to life. Amsterdam is one of my favourite cities, and Ayreon has a lot to do with that.

I am astonished Ayreon is not a lot more mainstream popular.