← Fame through time1600-1699
The 17th century
Whose working lives fell in the 17th century. Books are measured from 1800 and readers from 2015, so for this period we can say who lived then, not who was talked about then.
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 17th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Diego Velázquez20 decades - 2
Charles II of Spain18 decades - 3
Philip IV of Spain20 decades - 4
Philip III of Spain19 decades - 5
Francisco Quevedo22 decades - 6
Anne of Austrianot measured- - 7
Pedro Calderón de la Barca22 decades - 8
Maria Theresa of Spain22 decades - 9
Francisco de Zurbarán12 decades - 10
Baltasar Gracián14 decades - 11
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo20 decades - 12
Margaret Theresa of Spain0 decades - 13
Jusepe de Ribera18 decades - 14
Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain0 decades - 15
Maria Anna of Spainnot measured- - 16
Tirso de Molina22 decades - 17
Isabella Clara Eugenia5 decades - 18
Balthasar Charles8 decades - 19
Marie Louise d’Orléans20 decades - 20
Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur2 decades - 21
Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivaresnot measured- - 22
Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquis of the Balbases9 decades - 23
Juan Ruiz de Alarcón15 decades - 24
Alonso Cano22 decades - 25
Mary of Jesus de León y Delgadonot measured-
How to read these rankings
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record. It is not a judgement on the life.
- Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, we would rather show nothing than guess.