Frans Banninck Cocq

Frans Banninck Cocq (sometimes incorrectly spelled as Banning[1]), lord of Purmerland and Ilpendam (1605–1655) was a burgemeester (mayor), knight and military person of Amsterdam in the mid-17th century. He belonged to the wealthy and powerful Dutch patriciate of the Dutch Golden Age. Banninck Cocq is best known as the central figure in Rembrandt's masterpiece The Night Watch.[2]

Frans Banninck Cocq (dressed in black with a red sash) is the central figure in Rembrandt's Night Watch.

Biography

Background and Family
Cocq lived in "De Dolphijn", Singel 140

Frans was the son of Jan Jansz Cock, a local pharmacist of german descendant in the Warmoesstraat and Lysbeth Frans Banninck from a upper class family of the city's patriciate. He was baptized on 27 February 1605 in the nearby Old Church.[3][4] As his parents were not married, it caused a scandal, but on 17 September of the same year they went to the townhall to notice the marriage.[5] Both were related to Cornelis Hooft. Frans, who seems to have had one deaf brother [6] studied law in Poitiers and Bourges between 1625 and 1627.[7]

In 1630 Banninck Cocq married Maria Overlander van Purmerland, daughter of Volkert Overlander (her sister Geertruid Overlander (1609–1634) was married to Cornelis de Graeff), merchant and one of the founders of the Dutch East Trading Company, and a few times burgemeester of Amsterdam. Through his marriage he get linked by marriage with the powerful Bicker and De Graeff families and also to Johan de Witt, Grand Pensionary of Holland. When Frans' father-in-law died, Banninck Cocq inherited his properties, including a canal house, the castle of Ilpenstein north of Amsterdam along with the title Lord of Purmerland and Ilpendam. Banninck Cocq decorated the main hall with portraits of his wife's ancestors.[8] The couple had no children.

Political Career

Around 1630 Banninck Cocq became schepen and in 1634 he succeeded his father-in-law as a member of the city council. In 1650 he was appointed burgemeester (mayor) of Amsterdam. In 1651, 1653 and 1654 he was re-elected. He worked with his brother-in-law Cornelis de Graeff and Johan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen.

The Amsterdam archery militia whose patron saint was St. Sebastian, in 1653 by Bartholomeus van der Helst. Cocq is at the left.

Banninck Cocq is also depicted in the Bartholomeus van der Helst portrait of The Governors of the Longbow Civic Guards, 1653, now in the Amsterdam Museum.

Military career, Night watch

In 1635 Banninck Cocq was a lieutenant of the Amsterdam civil guard (militia) of Wijk I and captain of that of Wijk II from about 1635 to about 1646. From about 1646 to 1650 he was a colonel.

Banninck Cocq is primarily known today for being depicted in a painting by Rembrandt van Rijn commissioned in 1638, which shows Cocq and his company of civil guards. Although known as The Night Watch (1642), this is not the original title; at that time it was in fact unusual to title paintings but if indeed it had a name, the more correct one would be "The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch". The painting is notable, among other things, for its huge size: approximately 3.35 m x 4.26 m (11 ft by 14 ft).

Death

Frans Banninck Cocq was buried on 6 January 1655; his tomb chapel is located in the Oude Kerk.[9]

References
  1. S.A.C. Dudok van Heel (1992) FRANS BANNINCK COCQ (1605-1655), DE KAPITEIN VAN ‘DE NACHTWACHT’ In: Maandblad Amstelodamum.
  2. "'The Company of Capteyn Frans Banning Cocq' (aka 'The Night Watch') by Rembrandt". Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  3. Stadsarchief Amsterdam
  4. His father, born in Bremen, moved around 1592 to Amsterdam. Nothing is known about his grandfather.
  5. Stadsarchief Amsterdam
  6. "The Amsterdam Civic Guard Portraits within and Outside the New Rijksmuseum Part II".
  7. Koninklijke Bibiotheek
  8. S.A.C. Dudok van Heel (2002) Toen hingen er burgers als vorsten aan de muur, p. 57. In: Kopstukken
  9. Stadsarchief Amsterdam

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