Militia Company of District XI under the Command of Captain Reynier Reael by Frans Hals

The Meagre Company by Frans Hals and Pieter Codde (1633) is the only militia portrait Hals painted outside Haarlem, and he walked away before it was done. Two painters worked on this canvas. The seam is still visible. It hangs in the Rijksmuseum on loan from the Amsterdam Museum.

Start on the left. The captain's face, the orange sash, the lace collars, Hals at full strength. Each man paid for his own portrait; rank bought placement and the most vivid paint. Now scan right. The brush loosens, the figures thin. You are watching a painting change hands in real time.

Hals was commissioned in 1633 but hated commuting to Amsterdam. By 1636 the sitters demanded he return to finish. He refused. They hired Pieter Codde instead. The mismatch earned a nickname: the men looked thinner than those in neighboring militia portraits, so someone called them the Meagre Company.

A painting can be a document of its own making. Next time you stand before a group portrait, look for the seam.