Regents group portrait

The regents of a charitable organization (such as an orphanage, poorhouse, hospital or hofje) or guild were drawn from the regenten, the upper class of Dutch society.

The leading portraitists of the day were commissioned to make regentenstukken, including Rembrandt (whose Syndics of the Drapers' Guild is a subtle treatment of a group round a table), Frans Hals, Ferdinand Bol, and Bartholomeus van der Helst.

For instance, Abraham de Vries in 1633 painted a regentenstuk for the Burgerweeshuis orphanage in Amsterdam showing not only the regents but also the binnenvader leading in a young orphan girl.

Cornelis van der Voort, an Amsterdam-based artist originally from Antwerp, is regarded as the inventor of the new genre of the regentenstukken as he started working on three such portraits just before 1617.

Boards of trustees preferred an image of austerity and humility, posing in dark clothing (which by its refinement testified to their prominent standing in society), often seated around a table, with solemn expressions on their faces.