Oil on canvas “Portrait of a Man with His Dog”, inscription on the back: “Messire Vincent Van den Bogaerde born April 15, 1542 – February 10, 1586, family coat of arms at the top left.
Van den Bogaerde was a notable family from the Southern Netherlands who lived and worked mainly in Bruges from the 16th to the 19th century.
The first notables bearing this name in Bruges, in the first half of the 16th century, were merchants, and their descent from nobles of the 13th and 14th centuries has not been proven.
Vincent van den Bogaerde (1540-1586), a linen merchant, became governor of the Berg van Charitate. The Berg van Charitate in Bruges was a charitable credit institution that operated as a municipal loan bank from 1573 to 1795. The Berg van Barmhartigheid (which merged with the Berg van Charitate in 1795) was a loan bank established by the central government and operated in Bruges from 1628 to 1920.
The first to play a role in the city administration was Vincent’s son, Donaes II van den Bogaerde (1576-1640), who became mayor and a member of the city council in 1612. In 1627, he became a city alderman and treasurer in 1634 and 1636. This last position, in particular, was an undeniable sign of the family’s growing wealth. This Donaes also wrote several brochures containing arithmetic tables: conversion of local currency into the many existing currencies, interest tables, tables of weights and measures, etc. His brochures were reprinted and updated annually until the end of the Ancien Régime.
In 1705, Andries II van den Bogaerde (1639-1710) was ennobled, and his nephew Pieter van den Bogaerde did the same in 1717. Under the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, several members of the family confirmed their nobility.
Flemish School
17th century
Height: 83 cm
Width: 74 cm
