------ This video from the Children’s Video Tour explores Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck’s painting “Andries Stilte as a Standard Bearer” from 1640. This remarkable portrait shows Andries Stilte, whose family coat of arms decorates the painting’s upper corner, holding a flag, which indicates his position as the standard bearer in the Haarlem civic guard. The man in this position had to be unmarried, and when this portrait was made, Stilte was engaged. Later in the year when he married, he was required to resign his guard post and wear only the traditional somber black clothing. Stilte was proud to hold the position when he did, and hired Verspronck to paint this portrait to commemorate that time in his life. On view in the West Building, Gallery 46. http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=104729