Boudewijn van Offenberg - detail of The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1616 by Frans Hals

Boudewijn van Offenberg or Offenberch (1590–1653), was a

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( nl, Gouden Eeuw ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the era from 1588 (the birth of the Dutch Republic) to 1672 (the Rampjaar, "Disaster Year"), in which Dutch trade, science, and art an ...

notary, merchant and member of the

Haarlem schutterij The Haarlem schutterij refers to a collective name for the voluntary civic guard of Haarlem, from medieval times up to the Batavian Revolution in 1794, when the guilds of Haarlem were disbanded. History During the Hook and Cod wars in 1402, H ...

Biography

He was born in Haarlem as the son of Pieter van Offenberg, a cloth and wine merchant who relocated in Haarlem with his brothers Dirck and Lucas from

Wesel Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district. Geography Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Division of the city Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrigh ...

via Antwerp, and Maria van Loo.Boudewijn van Offenberg
in ''Boudewijn van Offenberg, de vaandrig van Frans Hals'', by Gertrudis A.M. Offenberg, pp. 83-106, Haerlem : jaarboek 2004, ISSN 0927-0728, on the website of the North Holland Archives Boudewijn's mother Maria van Loo and his uncle Dirck van Offenberg were the godparents of

Dirck Hals Dirck Hals (19 March 1591 – 17 May 1656), born at Haarlem, was a Dutch Golden Age painter of merry company scenes, festivals and ballroom scenes. He played a role in the development of these types of genre painting. He was somewhat influ ...

in Haarlem, but the families knew each other already from their Antwerp period, because the sister of Boudewijn's grandmother Maria van Offenberg had been the godmother of Maria Hals, the older sister of Dirck and Frans, who was born in Antwerp. He married Beatrix de Laignier in 1627 and was a merchant in Haarlem, Leiden, and Bad Bentheim.Boudewijn van Offenberg
in record for this painting in the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

He was a flag bearer of the St. George militia in Haarlem from 1612-1627 and had to resign when he got married, as Catholics were not allowed to become officers and flag bearers were bachelors. He was portrayed by

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century gro ...

twice, in ''

The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1616 ''The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1616'' refers to the first of several large schutterstukken painted by Frans Hals for the St. George (or St. Joris) civic guard of Haarlem, and today is considered one of the mai ...

'' and in ''

The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1627 ''The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1627'' refers to a schutterstuk painted by Frans Hals for the St. George (or St. Joris) civic guard of Haarlem, and today is considered one of the main attractions of the Frans Ha ...

''. His wife Beatrix was a daughter of the "tafel houder" or "bank holder" Maximiliaan de Laignier, who ran the

Bank van Lening, Haarlem The Haarlem Bank van Lening is a former city Bank van Lening that has been converted to a restaurant in Haarlem, the Netherlands. History of the bank Though Haarlem probably had a "Tafel van Leening" in the 13th century, the first mention of it ...

. After they married they lived on the

Spaarne The Spaarne is a river in North Holland, Netherlands. This partially canalized river connects the Ringvaart to a side branch of the North Sea Canal. It runs through Haarlem, Heemstede, and Spaarndam. The historic canals of Haarlem's moats are c ...

at the spot where the house number 47 exists today. The couple moved to

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

in 1642 where they lived on the Rapenburg at (today's) number 14 until 1652. By this time Boudewijn had become a merchant in stone and in 1652 he moved again with his family to Bentheim, where he died a year later and was mentioned in the death register as a ''stein händler'' who died of ''elefantiasi''. The disease

elephantiasis Elephantiasis is the enlargement and hardening of limbs or body parts due to tissue swelling. It is characterised by edema, hypertrophy, and fibrosis of skin and subcutaneous tissues, due to obstruction of lymphatic vessels. It may affect the genit ...

was rare, so it is possible that he was just fat, as his second portrait by Hals shows him to be considerably fatter than the first, though he was only 37 at that time. After he died, his wife and two sons moved to

Oldenzaal Oldenzaal (; Tweants: ''Oldnzel'') is a municipality and a city in the eastern province of Overijssel in the Netherlands. It is part of the region of Twente and is close to the German border. It received city rights in 1249. Historically, the ...

, where his son Maximiliaan became a magistrate and his son Petrus became mayor. File:WLANL - legalizefreedom - Banket van de officieren van de St. Jorisdoelen, 1627.jpg, Second portrait of Van Offenberg as flag bearer aged 37, this time fatter

References

Boudewijn van Offenberg
in ''De Haarlemse Schuttersstukken'', by Jhr. Mr. C.C. van Valkenburg, pp. 68, Haerlem : jaarboek 1958, ISSN 0927-0728, on the website of the North Holland Archives 1590 births 1653 deaths Frans Hals People from Haarlem {{Netherlands-bio-stub