The Sentry is an oil-on-canvas painting by Dutch artist Carel Fabritius, created in 1654.

During this treatment, old overpainting dating to the eighteenth century or earlier was removed, revealing a second soldier whose legs are visible below the arch at left.

[4] In 2005, the art historian Bart Cornelis wrote: "Although the painting looks brilliant after treatment, one cannot help feeling that part of its charm has gone, now that the splendid isolation of the soldier has been lost by the sudden appearance of another soldier .... Whoever overpainted this detail at such an early stage in the picture's history seemed to have understood that he could actually strengthen the composition.

"[4] Art historian Laura Cumming writes, "The Sentry is the most enigmatic of Fabritius's scant few works....

This is a public painting of inward emotion; a civic guard with a private mind....