Jacob van Oost (1603–1671)

• Was a Flemish painter of history paintings and portraits.
• Jacob van Oost was born in Bruges as the son of Johannes van Oost en Gheeraerdyne Weyts.
• Jacob van Oost became master of the Bruges Guild of St. Luke in 1621.
• He left that year for Italy.
• During the five years he spent in Rome he may have studied under Annibale Carracci.
• After his return to Bruges in 1628 he became a director of the local Guild of St. Luke on 13 October 1629.
• He married Jaquemyne Van Overdille in Bruges in 1630.
• His wife died the next year leaving him one son Maarten.
• In 1633 Jacob van Oost married Maria van Tollenaere.
• The couple had six children.
• His sons Jacob the Younger and Willem became notable painters in their own right.
• Jacob van Oost was commissioned to restore Jan van Eyck's famous Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele (1436) in the former Church of Saint-Donaas (now in the Groeningemuseum) in Bruges in 1632–33.
• Between 1633 and 1662 Jacob van Oost held various positions in the Guild of St. Luke including various term as the dean of the Guild.
• His registered pupils were his sons Jacob and Willem, and the painters Boudewijn Bodet, Franschoes Gheilliaert, Jan Maes, Jan Baptist van Meunincxhove, Jan Ramon and Arnoldus de Roose. 

• Van Oost died in Bruges.

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