Story of a great painting by Frans Hals.

                                                               

Meagre company 1633-1637
Frans Hals and Pieter Codde

In 1885 Vincent Van Gogh wrote a letter to his brother Theo with a appreciative note about a painting " meagre Company " by Frans Hals and Pieter codde. He visited a newly opened  Rijksmuseum at that time. He wrote the letter in excitement and had expressed his observations and feelings. He wrote " It was unknown to me until now by Frans Hals and Pieter Codde, 20 or so officers full length. Have you noticed it??? in itself that painting alone makes the trip to Amsterdam well worth while, especially for a colourist "   In his letter Van Gogh maintained about a figure who is seen  in the extreme left of  the painting ."the figure is in grey from top to toe, he called it pearl grey. Which probably attained with orange and blue so that they neutralized each other" He also explained how well the artist had used colours and maintains over all tone and harmony. Hals had used orange, white and blue as the national colours were then. 

The painting is also known as Militia Company. Militia were the volunteers of the urban elites,existed in Holland  from late  16th century. This painting shows an assembly, when their military service were needed. They were not associated with a regular army controlled by the central state thus they show the strength of civil society. It shows the militia from Amsterdam under the leadership of captain Rainier Reael. He is the man seated at the left .Hals gained reputation by this time and he was offered to make it. While making this painting he was in dispute with his clients and  argued that the painter was being too slow with the project. Hals had said that he needed to paint the faces directly from the model and the sitting would be shot. Hals often went to amsterdam from Harlem. When the painting was only about half way, the client broke with Hals and hired another artist Pieter Codde to finish the painting. Painters were paid by the number of figures they painted. Experts on the artist estimate that Hals  painted about seven figures on the left, a rapid sketch detected beneath the  picture surface which reveals that he was responsible for all  the preliminary design of the entire composition. The animated facial expressions and the position of the heads or postures suggests that Hals was in his most brilliant and mature style where he was able to engage the figures in action or in conversation. This was his typical of Hals. Here the figures talk or react to each other,brush strokes and paints are very much visible and unblended. Pieter codde was specialized in light hearted interior scenes and small format portraits ,though he tries his best to match or maintain the work as unified as possible. The painting inspired generation after generation ,like Van Gogh and many more.