The Aalmoezeniersweeshuis (Almoners Orphanage) on the Prinsengracht was opened in 1666. By 1683 1300 children were housed there. Eight men and four women were in charge of the administration. Unlike other charities, the governors of the almoners orphanage did not initially commission any group portraits. Instead their family arms were displayed in chronological order on hand-somely framed paintings. A large number of the regents had to devise a coat-of-arms for the occasion. The family name helped here: the surname Swart (black) inspired a coat-of-arms with three black heads, while the Lepper family is represented by a spoonbill – lepelaar in Dutch. The carved frame itself bears the arms of the governors of about 1684.