This festive banquet has turned into a lively event. The guardsmen all have something to say and pat each other on the shoulder convivially. Cornelis van Haarlem portrayed the men in an innovative, spontaneous style – group portraits had generally been more formal until then. The furled banner that splits the composition diagonally was revolutionary too. Cornelis was actually part of this company. He appears wearing a hat, top left, in what is Haarlem’s earliest known civic guard portrait.