The Conspiracy of the Batavians under Claudius Civilis by Rembrandt van Rijn 1662

"...these were the causes of his anger, his hopes sprang from our misfortunes. Civilis, however, who was cunning beyond the average barbarian, bore himself also like a Sertorius or a Hannibal, since his face was disfigured like theirs; in order to avoid being attacked as an enemy, as he would have been if he had openly revolted from the Romans, he pretended to be a friend of Vespasian and enthusiastic for his party; indeed Primus Antonius had actually written to him directing him to divert the auxiliary troops called up by Vitellius and to hold back the legions on the pretext of a German revolt. Hordeonius Flaccus, who was on the ground, had given him the same suggestion, moved by his own partiality toward Vespasian and by his anxiety for the state, whose ruin was sure if war were renewed and all those thousands of armed men burst into Italy."

-Tacitus, The Histories: Book 4, Chapter 13

One of the painters commissioned to make a ‘Batavian’ painting for the new Amsterdam town hall was Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69). Rembrandt chose the moment of the oath of the Batavians in the sacred grove, as described by Tacitus, Histories IV, 14. Civilis, with crown and sword, is the main protagonist of the composition. Unlike his fellow painters, Rembrandt decided to depict Civilis with one blind eye, as some of the sources had described his appearance. In 1662 it was reportedly on display at the town hall, but shortly afterwards, it was removed from the building. The painting, originally measuring more than 5 by 5 metres, was reduced to about 2 by 3 metres, which incidentally makes Civilis`s blind eye more clearly visible. Current location: Nationalmuseum, Sweden.

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bataafseeed.jpg

https://eclecticlight.co/2016/03/28/the-story-in-paintings-rembrandts-conspiracy-and-batavians/


Quote:

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Histories/4A*.html