Mostaert, Jan (1475–1556)

Dutch painter. As court painter to Margaret of Austria, he produced portraits of richly dressed sitters with elaborate backgrounds; he also painted religious subjects. He was one of the first to introduce a Renaissance element into Netherlandish painting.

He 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.