Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Arts & Music

46

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Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez

Diego Velázquez

Spain

6 June 1599 (Baptism) – 6 August 1660 (~61 years old)

Supreme giant of the Spanish Golden Age and leading painter at the court of King Philip IV, celebrated for his profound psychological insight, optical atmospheric realism, and his meta-artistic pinnacle Las Meninas.

Madrid, Spain

46 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

40

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Sainte Louise de Marillac

Louise de Marillac

France

1591 – 1660 (68 years old)

Religieuse française et sainte, cofondatrice avec Vincent de Paul des Filles de la Charité, proclamée sainte patronne des travailleurs sociaux.

Paris, France

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Arts & Music

37

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Judith Jans Leyster

Judith Leyster

Netherlands

1609 – 1660 (50 years old)

Leading woman master of the Dutch Golden Age and one of the first admitted to the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke, celebrated for lively genre scenes and her sparkling 'Self-Portrait'.

Heemstede, Netherlands

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

38

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Garcia II of Kongo

Garcia II Nkanga a Lukeni a Nzenze a Ntumba

Congo

c. 1615 CE – 1660 (45 years old)

One of the greatest Manikongos (Kings) of Kongo, who formed a strategic military alliance with the Dutch West India Company and Queen Nzinga to resist Portuguese encroachment.

Mbanza Kongo, Angola

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

24

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Moulay Ali Cherif

مولاي علي الشريف

Morocco

1589 – 1659 (70 years old)

Patriarch and founder of the Alaouite dynasty of Morocco, descended from Hasan ibn Ali, who was proclaimed Emir of Tafilalet in 1631, establishing the ruling royal house of Morocco.

Rissani (Tafilalet), Morocco

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Art

6

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Frans Snyders

Frans Snyders

Belgium

1579 – 1657 (77 years old)

Flemish Baroque master who revolutionized animal and market painting, creating ferocious hunting scenes and bountiful pantry still lifes, frequently collaborating with Peter Paul Rubens.

Antwerp, Belgium

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Sciences & Discovery

44

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William Harvey

William Harvey

Great Britain

1 April 1578 – 3 June 1657 (79 years old)

English physician whose 1628 masterwork De Motu Cordis proved the complete systemic circulation of blood pumped continuously by the heart in a closed circuit throughout the body.

Hempstead (Essex), United Kingdom

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Prophets & Divine Messengers

9

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Clara Peeters

Clara Peeters

Belgium

c. 1594 – c. 1657 (63 years old)

Trailblazing Flemish woman painter who pioneered the ontbijtjes (breakfast pieces) still-life genre, famed for luminous metal reflections that frequently included miniature self-portraits.

Antwerp, Belgium

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Arts & Music

988

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Artemisia Gentileschi

Artemisia Lomi Gentileschi

Italy

1593 – 1 (62 years old)

Pioneering Italian Baroque painter who triumphed over adversity to become the first female member of Florence's Accademia delle Arti del Disegno.

Naples, Italy

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Religion

7

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Hélène Boullé

Hélène Boullé

France

c. 1598 – 1654 (56 years old)

Wife of Samuel de Champlain who lived in Quebec from 1620 to 1624, captivated Indigenous allies with her grace, and later founded an Ursuline convent in Montauban.

Montauban, France

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Arts & Music

39

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Carel Pietersz Fabritius

Carel Fabritius

Netherlands

1622 – 1654 (32 years old)

Rembrandt's most brilliant student and mentor of Vermeer whose exquisite, luminous trompe-l'œil masterpiece 'The Goldfinch' survived the tragic Delft explosion of 1654.

Delft, Netherlands

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Humanitarian & Peace

53

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Saint Peter Claver

Pere Claver i Sobocano

Spain

1580 – 1654 (74 years old)

Prêtre jésuite catalan, autoproclamé « esclave des esclaves pour toujours », qui soigna et défendit plus de 300 000 captifs africains déportés à Carthagène des Indes.

Cartagena, Colombia

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Politics

6

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Axel Oxenstierna

Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna

Sweden

1583-06-16 – 1654-08-28 (71 years old)

Lord High Chancellor of Sweden (1612–1654), close partner of King Gustavus Adolphus, and architect of the modern administrative state and Swedish Great Power era (Stormaktstiden).

Södermanland, Sweden

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Arts & Music

41

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Alessandro Algardi

Alessandro Algardi

Italy

1598 – 1654 (55 years old)

Bolognese Baroque sculptor, chief rival of Bernini in Rome, whose colossal marble relief 'The Expulsion of Attila' in Saint Peter's Basilica set the peak of high-relief drama.

Rome, Italy

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Arts & Music

36

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Inigo Jones

Inigo Jones

Great Britain

1573 – 1652 (78 years old)

First significant English architect who introduced classical Renaissance and Palladian architecture to Britain, designing the Queen's House at Greenwich and the Banqueting House at Whitehall.

London, United Kingdom

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Arts & Music

34

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Georges de La Tour

Georges de La Tour

France

1593 – 1652 (58 years old)

Master of French Baroque chiaroscuro whose serene, meditative nocturnal paintings illuminated by a single candle—such as 'The Penitent Magdalene'—are peaks of silent spirituality.

Lunéville, France

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Religious Figures & Theologians

43

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Tukaram Bolhoba Ambile

संत तुकाराम

India

c. 1608 – 1650 (42 years old)

Beloved Maharashtrian Bhakti poet-saint whose ecstatic 'Abhangas' dedicated to Lord Vitthala of Pandharpur inspired Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and democratized Hindu devotion.

Dehu, India

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Philosophy & Thought

40

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René Descartes

René Descartes

France

31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650 (53 years old)

'Father of Modern Philosophy' and inventor of Cartesian coordinates, who demolished skepticism through radical doubt to discover the bedrock principle: Cogito, ergo sum.

Stockholm, Sweden

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