This 1662 group portrait was previously hung in the Hall of the Drapers’ Guild in the Staalstraat, but was later bought by the City of Amsterdam in 1771 and transferred to the Rijksmuseum in 1808. The canvas represents the city figures responsible for controlling cloth-samples (staal translating as ‘sample’), who were appointed by the Burgomaster of Amsterdam to regulate the quality of cloth sold throughout the city. The book in front of the chairman is the account book in which the names are recorded of the drapers, whose samples have been approved, together with the date and the fees they paid. As with the artist’s two other famous group paintings (The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp and The Night Watch), he has once again taken great care with the pictorial requirements, carefully considering the relationship of the figures to each other. X-rays of the painting have revealed that the servant, who is bareheaded in the background was moved several times, while three drawings have survived of the three figures at the left, demonstrating a range of postures that Rembrandt tried for each before settling on the final arrangement. The composition is given a low viewpoint, making the figures appear more impressive and magisterial, as well as allowing for the canvas to be raised in perspective, in keeping for its destined position above a chimney-piece.