Night Watch Burglary Tools

Exploring security theater, the fear of loss, and Rembrandt’s the Night Watch by Kasey Smith

A tapestry-style balaclava made from the central figures in the Rembrandt painting the Night Watch. The design is decorated with red and gold tassels and red ribbons.
A balaclava with tapestry fabric showing a vintage military scene white ribbons, and gold tassels.

Balaclava of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq

The Night Watch was a commission painted in 1642 by the Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn. It depicts Amsterdam’s Militia Company of District II as they are about to go on duty patrolling the city. These militias — or schutterij in Dutch — were voluntary civil guards made of influential Amsterdam city elites. Intended as supplemental military support during the Eighty Years War, by the time The Night Watch was painted they had transitioned into something closer to fraternal orders – basically social clubs with weaponry.

The Night Watch is a pantomime of safety, security, and order. It captures no great deeds, only great pretenses. There are no Spanish troops to fight, but the militia goes through the symbolic motions as if there are. The projection of strength depicted by Rembrandt is twinned to an equal measure of vanity. The lace collars, the ostrich plumes, and the luxurious outfits of the two central figures are class signifiers divorced from battle readiness. They project power, but it is the power of rich, well-connected men not the power of military capability. These are weapons that have never seen blood, boots that have never seen grime, and men with the soft hands of the noble classes. The kind of men who would pay 100 guilders each to be aggrandized by one of the top artists of the era.

Balaclava of Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch

In this series, I have collected various vintage cross-stitches of The Night Watch and used them to “upholster” a collection of burglary tools and accessories; skinning these implements of violence in the thin veneer of civility. However, the way I chose to upholster them has purposefully maintained their original function. The blades on cutting tools, the joints on lever tools, the heads on smashing tools, the points on rotary tools — these have all been left free and undiminished in the upholstering process. The thin veneer of civility is aesthetic; impeding nothing. Security theater as swaddling theater.

When I was creating these pieces, I envisioned them as a swiss army knife of property crime. That they would collectively contain an unparalleled thoroughness and criminal utilitarianism; underscoring the contrast to the pompous artifice of the original painting. Some of these pieces are for breaking and entering and some are for smash and grabs; some leverage stealth while others leverage anonymity; some are tools of convenience and some are tools of professionalism. Together they form an array of options, of tactics, of concrete opportunities. A functional and visual abundance on par with the layered elements of Rembrandt’s original painting with its thicket of lances and various micro-vignettes.

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A pair of small pliers wrapped in a brown, yellow, and light green cross-stitch with pearl-like beads along the edge, set against a white background.
A rusty metal file, the wooden handle has been wrapped in a cross-stitch of the Rembrandt painting The Night Watch.
A coil of rope made from strips of cross-stitch of the Rembrandt painting The Night Watch.
A pair of woven gloves with intricate patterns in red, orange, brown, and beige colors, laid flat on a plain white background.
A pair of tapestry gloves and a hacksaw upholstered in the same tapestry fabric
A pair of decorative, embroidered gloves with intricate patterns in warm colors including red, orange, and beige, against a white background.
A hacksaw upholstered in a vintage tapestry
a hacksaw upholstered in a vintage tapestry
A wrench that has been wrapped in a cross-stitch of of the Rembrandt painting The Night Watch.
A wrench that has been wrapped in a cross-stitch of of the Rembrandt painting The Night Watch. Part of the wrapping has been undone, revealed the head of the wrench. The underside of the cross-stitch is black velvet.
A flathead screwdriver with a fabric-covered handle embellished with small beads,
A phillips screwdriver with the handle wrapped in a brown and yellow cross-stitch, resting on a plain white surface.
A phillip's head screwdriver with a fabric-covered handle embellished with small beads,
A flathead screwdriver with the handle wrapped in a brown and yellow cross-stitch, resting on a plain white surface.
A phillips screwdriver with the handle wrapped in a brown and yellow cross-stitch decorated in beading, resting on a plain white surface.
A flathead screwdriver with a fabric-covered handle embellished with red fringe
Three crowbars of various sizes with decorative woven and beaded coverings, displayed on a white background.
A small crowbar wrapped in a brown and yellow cross-stitch with pearl-like beads along the edge, set against a white background.
a crowbar covered in an earth tone cross stitch fabric and coordinating bead embroidery
A crowbar wrapped in a cross-stitch of of the Rembrandt painting The Night Watch
A red prybar whose handle has been covered in a multicolored cross-stitch of an bearded man in a big hat and white ruffle, set against a white background.
A cross peen hammer sitting on its side. The handle is covered in an earth tone cross-stitch and there is a four inch bead fringe in purple, green, and brown hanging off the end.
A boxcutter with a belt holder that have been wrapped in a cross-stitch of the Rembrandt painting The Night's Watch and covered in brown beading and bead fringe.
A pair of small wire cutters wrapped in a brown, yellow, and light green cross-stitch, set against a white background.
Three screwdrivers with their handles wrapped in a brown, green, red, and yellow cross-stitch with beaded accents, set against a white background.
Three screwdrivers with their handles wrapped in a brown, green, red, and yellow cross-stitch with beaded accents, set against a white background.
A small hatchet with the handle covered in a cross-stitch of a 17th century gentleman that has been accented with bead embroidery work.
An antique hand drill covered in an earth tone cross-stitch with beads pinned into the wooden handle.
A hammer covered in a red and browns cross-stitch of a 17th century gentleman.
A bolt cutter where the handles and arms have been covered in a cross-stitch of the Rembrandt painting The Night Watch
A small three-pronged grappling hook that has been wrapped in a cross-stitch of of the Rembrandt painting The Night Watch and embroidered with gold and black sequins.
A vintage red wrench wrapped with a cross-stitch of the Rembrandt painting The Night Watch.
A beanie and face mask sewn out of a cross-stitch of Rembrandt's painting The Night Watch and decorated with beads and lined in black velvet
A face mask sewn from a cross-stitch of the Rembrandt painting The Night Watch and decorated with red and white beads.
A large vintage maglite flashlight covered in cross-stitch of the Rembrandt painting The Night Watch