Case Study 4: Frans Hals & Co: the Civic Guard Portraits and the Attribution of The Meagre Company

AbstractThis study concerns Hals’s civic guard portraits, his largest and most prestigious commissions. All five Haarlem civic guard portraits, which were completed under Hals’s supervision, are studied in depth (using super-high-resolution photography, MA-XRF scans and infrared reflectography), as well as a contested Amsterdam civic guard portrait, The Meagre Company. That last work was begun by Hals and – because of a conflict with his patrons - eventually finished by another painter, Pieter Codde (1599–1678). Hals experts have long disagreed about the exact extent of Hals’s and Codde’s contribution to the painting. This case study offers deeper insights into Hals’s technique, style and workshop practice as well as the differences with Codde, and subsequently sheds new light on the attribution of The Meagre Company.