Explain how the commission by Frans Hals could easily be misunderstood by the modern viewer.

Hals is commissioned to complete the painting for a minimal compensation, which for the modern viewer is elitist and could reasonably provoke the artist to manipulate the painting to depict the sponsors in a spiteful way. For example, a modern view might see the demeanor and dress of one of the Regents as drunken, but it is described as simply the fashion of the time. It is easy for the modern viewer to see the image in their own way, instead of Hals, which is not spiteful.