Jan Mostaert

Jan Mostaert (1475–1556), Dutch painter. As court painter to Margaret of Austria, wife of King Phillip III of Spain, he produced portraits of richly dressed sitters with elaborate backgrounds. Mostaert also painted religious subjects. He was one of the first to introduce a Renaissance element into Dutch painting.

Mostaert was born in Haarlem and probably trained with Geertgen tot Sint Jans—his style is clearly indebted to Geertgen's. Besides his portraits, he also painted pictures of the New World—one of the first artists to do so—though he in fact never visited it.