Captain Jacob Hooghkamer (in the centre, with a pike) is a silk merchant and captain in the civic guard. But ten years after the painting of this group portrait he goes bankrupt and so loses all his social positions. He has to leave the city council and step down as captain. To preserve him from destitution, the wardens of the Crossbowmen’s guild appoint him steward of their building, where this painting must remind him of happier days.