1600–1699
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 Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.
#PersonIn print, 1800–2019Echoed
- 1
Diego Velázquez1599–1660 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists20 decades - 2
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo1617–1682 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists20 decades - 3
Francisco de Zurbarán1598–1664 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists12 decades - 4
Jusepe de Ribera1591–1652 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists18 decades - 5
Alonso Cano1601–1667 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists22 decades - 6
Juan Carreño de Miranda1614–1685 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists16 decades - 7
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Josefa de Óbidos1630–1684 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 8
Juan de Valdés Leal1622–1690 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists16 decades - 9
Antonio Palomino1655–1726 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists22 decades - 10
Claudio Coello1642–1693 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists22 decades - 11
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Juan de Parejadied 1670 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists19 decades - 12
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Juan Martínez Montañés1568–1649 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists15 decades - 13
Gregorio Fernández1576–1636 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists14 decades - 14
Luisa Roldán1652–1706 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists4 decades - 15
Pedro De Mena1628–1688 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists21 decades - 16
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Francisco Herrera the Elder1576–1656 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists1 decades - 17
Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazodied 1667 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists4 decades - 18
Antonio de Pereda1611–1678 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists17 decades - 19
Jorge Manuel Theocupulus1578–1631 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists5 decades - 20
Juan van der Hamen1596–1631 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists1 decades - 21
Juan de Zurbarán1620–1649 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists1 decades - 22
Francisco Rizi1614–1685 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists18 decades - 23
Mateo Cerezo1637–1666 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists21 decades - 24
Pedro Roldán1624–1699 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists14 decades - 25
Juan de Mesa1583–1627 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists22 decades - 26
Luis Tristán1586–1624 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists13 decades - 27
Juan de Arellano1614–1676 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists20 decades - 28
José Antolínez1635–1675 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists6 decades - 29
Eugenio Caxés1574–1634 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists4 decades - 30
Jusepe Leonardo1601–1652 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists4 decades - 31
Pedro Orrente1580–1645 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists4 decades - 32
Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante1633–1669 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 33
Juan Ribalta1596–1628 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 34
Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra1616–1668 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 35
Juan Rizi1600–1681 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 36
Francisco Camilo1610–1673 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 37
Pedro Atanasio Bocanegra1638–1689 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 38
Sebastián Herrera Barnuevo1619–1671 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 39
Jusepe Martínez1600–1682 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 40
Jerónimo Jacinto de Espinosa1600–1667 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 41
Teodoro Ardemans1661–1726 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 42MDMaria de Abarcadied 1699 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists1 decades
- 43
Bartolomé Román1587–1647 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 44
Juan de Alfaro y Gamez1640–1680 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 45
José de Mora1642–1724 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 46
Ignacio de Iriarte1621–1670 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 47
Bartolomé Pérez1634–1698 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 48
Pedro de Camprobin1605–1674 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 49
Cristóbal Hernández de Quintana1651–1725 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 50
Benito Manuel Agüero1626–1668 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 51
Francisco Barrera1595–1658 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 52
Andrés Amaya1645–1704 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 53
Alonso del Arco1635–1704 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 54PNPedro Núñez del Valle1597–1649 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured—
- 55
Juan Fernández el Labradordied 1657 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 56
Antonio Arias Fernández1614–1684 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 57
Cornelis Schut III1629–1685 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 58
Juan Simón Gutiérrez1634–1718 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 59
Antonio de Puga1602–1648 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 60APAntonio Ponce1608–1677 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured—
- 61
Juan Martín Cabezalero1633–1673 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 62
Pablo González Velázquez1664–1727 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 63
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Juana Pacheco1602–1660 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 64
Felipe Ramírezdied 1699 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 65
José Jiménez Donoso1632–1690 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 66
Francisco Antolínez1645–1700 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 67PDPedro de las Cuevas1568–1644 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured—
- 68
Juan Bautista de Espinosa1590–1641 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured— - 69ALAgustín Leonardo1580–1640 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured—
- 70FLFrancisco Lopez Caro1600–1661 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured—
- 71ADAgustín del Castillo1590–1631 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured—
- 72
Francisco Pérez Sierra1627–1709 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artistsnot measured—
How this is measured
- Placing people in time. Each person belongs to the century in which they were most active — around age 35, and never after their death.
- Who ranks highest. Within a century, people are ranked where two independent signals agree: how many of the world’s Wikipedia language editions cover them, and how many people actually read about them. Article counts alone can be lifted by a person’s own circle; readers cannot.
- Fame in print. The curves count how often a name appears in Google Books from 1800 to 2019, as a share of all the words printed each year, in the person’s own language wherever that corpus exists. Those decades are over, so each measurement is made once and kept.
- What is left out. A lifetime is measured only from 1820, when there is enough print to judge; the five years after a death are skipped as obituaries; and a name shared with someone equally notable is credited to neither.