Nicolaes Moeyaert: The regents of the old men- and women retirement home (1640)

(Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

A painting made by the Dutch artist Nicolaes Moeyaert (1592-1655). This piece is the only group portrait of regents attributed to Nicolaes Moeyaert. The old men- and women retirement home was founded in 1545 and was located in 1640 at the Kloveniersburgwal and Oudezijds Achterburgwal. This retirement home provided room for elderly from the city of Amsterdam who needed care and who didn't have any financial means for the other retirement homes (called 'gasthuis' in Dutch or 'guest house'). There was room for about 130 men and women and the financial support for the retirement home came from various sources. One of these sources was the profit of the Municipal Theatre of Amsterdam. Nicolaes Moeyaert was a member of the board-of-directors of this Municipal Theatre and this connection probably was the reason why he was selected for this painting. The composition of the painting is a source of discussion: the retirement home had a board-of-directors of 4 men and 2 women and there are 5 men shown around the table (the usual place for a director/ regent). Also the 2 women at the left are portrayed smaller then the men, these 2 women are the female directors of the retirement home. Most likely the commission changed at a later stage: at first the commission was for only the male regents but this was changed to include also the 2 female regents. At that time the size of the painting was already fixed (because the painting was intended for a specific place in the retirement home) and Moeyaert had probably half finished the piece so he had to improvise. The fifth male regent was a replacement for a regents who died during the commission - the deseaced regent and his replacement were included by Moeyaert. Shown on this painting are (from left to right): Elisabeth Reael (1582-1644), Cornelia Cant (1573-1669), Willem Wijntges (1581-1661), Jan Jansz Koeckebacker (ca.1582-1659), Dirck Aertsz Cock (1594-1655), Jan Michielsz Blaeuw (1588-1648), Philip Laurensz (1602-1640) and a servant. Painting from 1640.