some felt that the paintings should have been sold on the open market for hospital funding, rather than given to the frans hals museum, but as the former curator pointed out, the top regent group portraits had not been paid for by the institution but were funded privately by the regents themselves, or paid for by the city council. this was true of any art commissioned to decorate their hospital or the regent's offices, a practise which has continued into the present day, as the modern-day hospital kennemer gasthuis has commissioned works under the national "1% rule", referring to the spending of 1% of new building costs on art for decoration of public buildings (such as the new hospital premises). art formerly purchased and in the possession of the fund are considered city cultural heritage and the property of the city of haarlem. art currently installed or purchased under this rule is formally also be considered the property of the city of haarlem.