Geertgen tot Sint Jans (c. 1465 – c. 1495), also known as Geertgen van Haarlem,[1][2] Gerrit van Haarlem, Gerrit Gerritsz, Gheertgen,[3] Geerrit,[2] Gheerrit,[3] or any other diminutive form of Gerald,[4] was an Early Netherlandish painter from the northern Low Countries in the Holy Roman Empire.

Both painters lived in the city of Haarlem,[7] where Geertgen was attached to the house of the Knights of Saint John, perhaps as a lay brother, for whom he painted an altarpiece.

[3][6] Modern scholars have attempted to calculate the artist's death date with the information from The Painting-Book (Middle Dutch: Het Schilder-boeck) by Karel van Mander, published in 1604.

The reconstruction of Geertgen's active dates has recently been done by Kemperdick and Sander in 2007 stating: In the 14th century Haarlem was a major city.

At the end of the Middle Ages Haarlem was a flourishing city with a large textile industry, shipyards and beer breweries.

In 1469 the commandry of St. John in Haarlem was promoted to a special status that fell directly under the grand Prior of Germany.

The commandry of St. John became quite wealthy from donations by the local families Berkenrode, Assendelft, van Brederode, Tetrode, Schoten, and Adrichem.

Schoten was also the location of a St. Lazarus church (currently part of Museum van de Geest) that later came into the possession of the St. Janskerk.

The number of works attributed to him (varying between 12 and 16) is under dispute among scholars who discuss the artist (Kessler, Boon, Snyder, Chatelet, Fiero, and Koch).

Van Mander states that Albrecht Dürer said of Geertgen "Truly he was a painter in his mother's womb", although Dürer's journal of his Netherlandish travels doesn't mention the painter, and it has been suggested that Van Mander was using a form of epideictic rhetoric to build esteem for a fellow Haarlemer.

This "halo" is usually associated with the biblical verse in the Book of Revelation referring to the woman clothed in the Sun, interpreted as representing the Madonna in heaven.