Militia Company of District XI under the Command of Captain Reynier Reael

• The Company of Captain Reynier Reael and lieutenant Cornelis Michielsz Blaeuw, Amsterdam, 1637, known as the 'The Meagre Company'
• Militia Company of District XI under the Command of Captain Reynier Reael
• Officers and other Guardsmen of the XIth District of Amsterdam, under the Command of Captain Reijnier Reael and Lieutenant Cornelis Michielsz Blaeuw, known as the 'The Meagre Company'

The Company of Captain Reynier Reael and lieutenant Cornelis Michielsz Blaeuw, Amsterdam, 1637, known as the 'The Meagre Company'

SK-C-374

date, centre right: ‘Aº 1637’

So much went wrong with this Amsterdam militia company portrait. Hals made several trips to the capital to portray the guardsmen, but some never showed up. Finally, he insisted they come to Haarlem, but they refused, instead engaging the Amsterdam painter Pieter Codde to complete the work. Hals’ progress then remains unclear, but the composition and the seven figures on the left seem to be largely by him.

N. Middelkoop, 'Kruisbestuiving : Schutters- en regentenstukken in Haarlem en Amsterdam', Kunstschrift (2014) nr. 4, p. 29, afb. 29.

• painter: Frans Hals
• painter: Pieter Codde

1637

olieverf op doek

• height 209 cm x width 429 cm
• height 233 cm x width 452 cm

On loan from the City of Amsterdam

Public domain

Commissioned by the sitters for the Voetboogdoelen (headquarters of the crossbowmen´s civic guard); first mentioned in the Voetboogdoelen, 1653: `Aº. 1633. Ibid. [beneden de nieuwe Sael onder de Glasen] tegenover de Schoorsteen, Capn. Reynier Reael, Lutnt Cornelis Michielsz. Blau, aº 1637 bij Francois Hals begonnen, ende bij Codde voorts opgemaeckt´;{Schaep 1653, p. 134, no. 23.} transferred to the Great Council of War Chamber in the town hall by 1758;{Van Dyk 1758, pp. VI, 30, no. 20.} on loan to the museum from the City of Amsterdam since 1885

• N. Middelkoop, 'Kruisbestuiving : Schutters- en regentenstukken in Haarlem en Amsterdam', Kunstschrift (2014) nr. 4, p. 29, afb. 29.
• F. Suzman Jowell, 'Thoré-Bürger and the Revival of Frans Hals', The Art Bulletin 56 (1974), p. 109.
• S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, 'Rembrandt en de Vaandrigs van de Amsterdamse Schutterij', Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis (1993) nr. 2, p. 18-19, afb.
• P. Torresan, 'Per una rvolutazione di Pieter Codde', Antichità viva 14 (1975), p. 12.
• Kunstkronijk (1846), p. 4-12.
• I.H. van Eeghen, 'Pieter Codde en Frans Hals', Amstelodamum 61 (1974), p. 138-140, afb.

To refer to this object, please use the following persistent URL:

https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200109350