The group portrait – “Arrows of the Guild of St. Adrian” – was written by Hals in 1633. The boisterous vitality of the 1627 paintings gives way to a place of much greater restraint, a dynamic composition based on accentuated diagonals, a calm distribution of figures horizontally. On a huge canvas depicts a collection of shooters in the open air. Apparently, the case takes place in the courtyard of the Old Rifle Guild, whose building has survived in Harlem until now. The courtyard is overgrown with tall, dense trees, their dark brownish foliage serves as a backdrop for elegant figures. Preserved old copies from the picture suggest that the paints of the landscape are somewhat darkened from the time; initially it was lighter, the spatial relationships between individual trees were more distinct, etc. Now the trees form a single gloomy mass,
It’s hard for us to judge how much the colors have changed, and how these changes affect our perception, but it’s safe to say that Hals himself tried to give his work a romantic elation and beauty. The left part of the picture is occupied by a dense group of officers surrounding Colonel Johan Klaus Loo. The colonel himself – the elder Harlem burger – has the authority of authority, mind and willpower. In his “retinue” there are also many bright, though not so significant characters. So, the mood of the picture, the impression it produces, is largely determined by the figure of Captain Schutter, standing sideways to the viewer to the right of the colonel. Tall and handsome, in a light yellowish suit, with a gorgeous blue officer’s scarf, Schutter with a captivating smile, with bright eyes, turns to the viewer. The grace of his pose, The charming face is both natural and slightly emphasized. It seems that he plays a role with enthusiasm, plays easily, because it perfectly matches his “data”, corresponds to his nature.
It is interesting that the image, which serves as the key to the romantic poetry of the picture, conceals in itself a share of irony, and moreover, the irony of not only Khals, but, perhaps, the “actor” – Schutter. Finally, in the right part of the picture stands the clever, thin, assembled captain van der Horn, who rose half a turn to a few arrows, which the artist freely seated behind a simple wooden table. The role of the key image that brings us into the world of the picture is played by three and three such different characters, as Colonel Loo and captains Sutter and van der Horn. Perhaps, in this most clearly manifested the complexity and diversity of the content of this perhaps the most beautiful of the portraits written by Hals. A curious detail: at the right edge of the canvas with a book in his hand depicts Lieutenant Hendrik Gerrits Pot, a famous Harlem painter. After this work, Hals only twice wrote group portraits of shooters. One of them remained unfinished, this is the so-called “Thin Company” in the Amsterdam Rijksmeeum.
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