MOSTAERT, Jan
(b. ca. 1475, Haarlem, d. 1555/56, Haarlem)

Biography

Netherlandish painter. He was born in Haarlem and the influence of Geertgen tot Sint Jans can be clearly seen in his rather stiff and gangling figures. As painter to Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands, he accompanied her on her travels, making portraits of her courtiers. He also painted religious works. His most remarkable painting, however, is a landscape of the West Indies (Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, 1525-30). Many of his paintings were destroyed in the Great Fire of Haarlem in 1576, and little is known in detail of his career.