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Anonymous 1700s

Names of the regents of the St. Joris Proveniershuis.

Haarlem, Frans Halsmuseum. Panel, 165 × 135 cm.

Board membership on a charitable institution was, and often still is, as much a social distinction as a pious duty. Not all boards had themselves immortalized in group portraits, but even those that did would also have their names painted on boards of this kind, which today are rarer than painted portraits.

The inmates of the Haarlem Proveniershuis were not the poorest people in the city. They were registered citizens, and paid for the right to spend their old age in what were very comfortable and charming surroundings.