Frans Banning Cocq

Frans Banninck Cocq (sometimes incorrectly spelled as Banning), free lord of Purmerland and Ilpendam (February 23, 1605 – January 1, 1655) was a knight, burgemeester (mayor) and military person of Amsterdam in the mid-17th century, the Dutch Golden Age. He belonged to the wealthy and powerful Dutch patriciate, the regenten, and is best known as the central figure in Rembrandt's masterpiece The Night Watch.