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The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1616 refers to the first of several large schutterstukken painted by the Dutch painter Frans Hals for the St. George (or St. Joris) civic guard of Haarlem, and today is considered one of the main attractions of the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem.
Hals was in his thirties when he painted this piece, and was far from established as a portrait painter. To be safe, he based most of his design on the painting of his predecessor, Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem, who painted the same militia company in 1599. [1]
Given a nearly impossible task, namely to complete his assignment but to add theatrical elements at the same time, Hals must have spent much time judging the politics of the group. He knew these men well as he served in the St. Joris militia himself from 1612–1615. In his painting, he indicates the political position of each man in the group as well as managing to give each a characteristic portrait. In Cornelis van Haarlem's piece the figures seem crammed into a tight space, and the portraits are stiff and formal. In Hals' group, an illusion of space and relaxed conversation is given. [2]
Officers were selected by the council of Haarlem to serve for three years, and this group had just finished their tenure and celebrated their end of service with a portrait. The man with the orange sash heads the table and the second in command is on his right. The three ensigns stand and the servant is carrying a plate.[ citation needed ]
The men featured are from left to right Provost Johan van Napels, Colonel Hendrick van Berckenrode (wearing the orange sash), Captain Jacob Laurensz, Ensign Jacob Cornelisz Schout (holding the flag), Captain Vechter Jansz van Teffelen, Lieutenant Cornelis Jacobsz Schout, Lieutenant Hugo Mattheusz Steyn, a servant (standing in the back), Ensign Gerrit Cornelisz Vlasman, and Ensign Boudewijn van Offenberg. In the foreground seated in front of the table are Captain Nicolaes Woutersz van der Meer, and Lieutenant Pieter Adriaensz Verbeek.[ citation needed ]
Besides portraying the men and the group dynamics, this painting shows off the Haarlem damask tablecloth, brocade pillows on the chairs and the halberds hanging on the wall. It also displays Hals' talents as a painter: portraiture, still life and landscape.[ citation needed ]
The painting may have been painted on location, as Frans Hals lived in the Peuzelaarsteeg very close to the St. George militia headquarters (St. Jorisdoelen) who commissioned the painting, and managing a canvas of this size would have been a problem in Hals' studio. As an official art restorer employed by the city council, Hals had probably also already worked on paintings there. The premises had previously been the location of the women's convent called the St. Michielsklooster and after the old hall was refurbished in 1577 to house the St. Joris militia, a new hall in renaissance style was built at the north end in 1592. [3] The paintings by Hals and Cornelis van Haarlem hung in the renaissance building at the corner of the Grote Houtstraat. Today a restaurant, the windows overlook the garden of the Proveniershuis, but in the 17th century this was an area used for target practice.[ citation needed ]
Hals' painting was a huge success, as he won several additional portrait commissions from the subjects and their relatives, as well as winning the commission to paint a group portrait of this militia again in 1627 and in 1639. In later years the painting was seen by visitors to Haarlem, as it remained hanging in its original building after it became an inn. The inn is featured on Romeyn de Hooghe's map of Haarlem in 1688, showing the gate with a statue of St. George slaying the dragon as silent witness to the building's earlier purpose.[ citation needed ]
The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1616 appears on the restaurant wall in the 1989 Peter Greenaway film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover . [4]
Frans Hals the Elder was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places of worship but citizens liked to decorate their homes with works of art. Hals was highly sought after by wealthy burgher commissioners of individual, married-couple, family, and institutional-group portraits. He also painted tronies for the general market.
The Frans Hals Museum is a museum in the North Holland city of Haarlem, the Netherlands, founded in 1862, known as the Art Museum of Haarlem. Its collection is based on the city's own rich collection, built up from the 16th century onwards. The museum owns hundreds of paintings, including more than a dozen by Frans Hals, to whom the museum owes its name. The Frans Hals Museum has two historic locations in Haarlem city centre: the main location on Groot Heiligland and Location Hal on Grote Markt, composed of the adjacent 17th-century Vleeshal and 19th-century Verweyhal. On Groot Heiligland is the 17th-century Oudemannenhuis with regent's rooms. It houses the famous paintings by Frans Hals and other ancient, modern and contemporary art, as well as the museum café. Location Hal regularly hosts exhibitions of modern and contemporary art.
Cornelis Corneliszoon van Haarlem was a Dutch Golden Age painter and draughtsman, one of the leading Northern Mannerist artists in the Netherlands, and an important forerunner of Frans Hals as a portraitist.
Schutterij refers to a voluntary city guard or citizen militia in the medieval and early modern Netherlands, intended to protect the town or city from attack and act in case of revolt or fire. Their training grounds were often on open spaces within the city, near the city walls, but, when the weather did not allow, inside a church. They are mostly grouped according to their district and to the weapon that they used: bow, crossbow or gun. Together, its members are called a Schuttersgilde, which could be roughly translated as a "shooter's guild". It is now a title applied to ceremonial shooting clubs and to the country's Olympic rifle team.
Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck was a Dutch Golden Age portrait painter from Haarlem.
The Proveniershuis is a hofje and former schutterij on the Grote Houtstraat in Haarlem, Netherlands.
Banquet of the officers of the Calivermen Civic Guard, Haarlem formerly known as The Banquet of the Officers of the St Adrian Militia Company in 1627, refers to a schutterstuk painted by Frans Hals, in 1627, for the St. Adrian civic guard of Haarlem. Today it is considered one of the main attractions of the Frans Hals Museum, in Haarlem.
The Officers of the St Adrian Militia Company in 1633 refers to the second schutterstuk painted by Frans Hals for the Cluveniers, St. Adrian, or St. Hadrian civic guard of Haarlem, in 1633, and today considered one of the main attractions of the Frans Hals Museum there.
The Officers of the St Adrian Militia Company in 1630 refers to the schutterstuk painted by Hendrik Gerritsz Pot for the Cluveniers, St. Adrian, or St. Hadrian civic guard of Haarlem, and today is considered one of the main attractions of the Frans Hals Museum there.
The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch artist Frans Hals, painted from 1626 - 1627, during the Dutch Golden Age. Today, the piece is considered one of the main attractions of the Frans Hals Museum.
The Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1639 refers to the last and largest schuttersstuk painted by Frans Hals for the St. George civic guard of Haarlem, and today is considered one of the main attractions of the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem.
Johan Claesz van Loo, was a Dutch brewer, owning De Drie Leliën in Haarlem, best known today for his portrait painted by Frans Hals.
Gijsbert Claesz van Campen, was a Dutch cloth merchant of Haarlem who is most famous today for his family portrait painted by Frans Hals. The sitters in this painting have been identified by Pieter Biesboer as the family of Gijsbert Claesz. van Campen and is today split into three parts; the left half is in the collection of the Toledo Museum of Art, with an extra baby lower left added by Salomon de Bray in 1628, the center half is in the collection of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, and a third fragment on the far right from a European private collection make up the three known surviving pieces of the original portrait. These three segments were reunited at the Toledo Museum of Art for an exhibition October 18, 2018 – January 6, 2019. The exhibition traveled to the RMFAB in Brussels from February 2 – April 28, 2019 and the Collection Frits Lugt in Paris, from June 8 – August 25, 2019.
The Meagre Company, or The Company of Captain Reinier Reael and Lieutenant Cornelis Michielsz Blaeuw, refers to the only militia group portrait, or schutterstuk, painted by Frans Hals outside of Haarlem. Today the painting is in the collection of the Amsterdam Museum, on loan to the Rijksmuseum, where it is considered one of its main attractions of the Honor Gallery. Hals was unhappy about commuting to Amsterdam to work on the painting and, unlike his previous group portraits, was unable to deliver it on time. The sitters contracted Pieter Codde to finish the work.
The Haarlem schutterij refers to a collective name for the voluntary civic guard of Haarlem, from medieval times up to the Batavian Revolution in 1794, when the guilds of Haarlem were disbanded.
Cornelis Coning or Koning, was an engraver and mayor of Haarlem.
Jacob Cornelisz Schout, was a Dutch Golden Age member of the Haarlem schutterij.
Cornelis Jacobsz Schout, was a Dutch Golden Age member of the Haarlem schutterij.
Gerrit Cornelisz. Vlasman, was a Dutch Golden Age brewer and member of the Haarlem schutterij.
Loth Schout, was a Dutch Golden Age brewer of Haarlem.
