Jan van Eyck was a painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. The surviving records indicate that he was born around 1380–1390, most likely in Maaseik, in present-day Belgium. He took employment in the Hague around 1422 when he was already a master painter with workshop assistants, and was employed as painter and valet de chambre with John III the Pitiless, ruler of Holland and Hainaut. After John's death in 1425, he was later appointed as court painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, working in Lille until he moved to Bruges in 1429 where he lived until his death. He was highly regarded by Philip and undertook a number of diplomatic visits abroad, including to Lisbon in 1428 to explore the possibility of a marriage contract between the duke and Isabella of Portugal.
Ghent University is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. It was established in 1817 by King William I of the Netherlands. After the Belgian revolution of 1830, the newly formed Belgian state began to administer the university. In 1930, the university became the first Dutch-speaking university in Belgium, whereas French had previously been the standard academic language in what was Université de Gand. In 1991, it was granted major autonomy and changed its name accordingly from State University of Ghent to its current designation.
The Institute of International Law is an organization devoted to the study and development of international law, whose membership comprises the world's leading public international lawyers. The organization is generally considered the most authoritative world academy of international law. It was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1904.
François-Auguste Gevaert was a Belgian musicologist and composer.
Jacques-Joseph Haus was a Belgian lawyer.
Johan Cyrille Corneel Vande Lanotte is a Belgian politician. He is a member of the SP.A, and became its party president on 15 October 2005. He handed down his leadership positions after the SP.A lost in the 2007 general election. Between 5 December 2011 and October 2014, he was Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Economy, Consumer affairs and North Sea in the Di Rupo I Government. With the formation of a new Centre-Right federal government, which excluded his party, Johan Vande Lanotte returned to local politics in October 2014 in Ostend, where he took up his position as alderman for the economy and tourism at Ostend City Council. From August 2015 until the end of 2018 Vande Lanotte was the mayor of Ostend.
Maurice Auguste Count Lippens was a noble Belgian businessman, politician, and colonial civil servant and lawyer.
Paul Joseph, Count de Smet de Naeyer was a Belgian Catholic Party politician.
Jean (Jan) Marie Joseph, Baron Van Houtte was a Belgian politician who served as Prime Minister of Belgium from 1952 to 1954.
Aloys (Alois) Jean Maria Joseph, Viscount Van de Vyvere was a Belgian Catholic Party politician.
Hippolyte Désiré Metdepenningen (1799–1881) was a Belgian lawyer, president of the Ghent Bar Association and a politician.
Count Constant de Kerchove de Denterghem was a Belgian liberal politician. He was a son of Jean de Kerchove and Sabine della Faille d'Assenede, both descendants of Flemish nobility. He was a nephew of Jozef-Sebastiaan della Faille d'Assenede, who was burgomaster of Ghent under French rule.
Count Charles de Kerchove de Denterghem (1819–1882) was a Belgian engineer and liberal politician. He was a son of the Ghent burgomaster Constant de Kerchove de Denterghem. His son Oswald would become Provincial Governor of Hainaut.
Hippolyte Lippens was a lawyer, manager of sugar factories and a Belgian liberal politician. He was a son of Auguste Lippens, burgomaster of Moerbeke-Waas, and he married in 1873, with Louise de Kerckhove de Denterghem, a daughter of the burgomaster of Ghent Charles de Kerchove de Denterghem.
Gustave Henri Ange Hippolyte Rolin-Jaequemyns was a Belgian lawyer, diplomat and Minister of the Interior (1878–1884) as a member of the Unitarian Liberal Party. Together with the Swiss jurist Gustave Moynier, he founded the Institut de Droit International and became its first Honorary President.
Hippolyte Emmanuel Boulenger was a Belgian landscape painter influenced by the French Barbizon school, considered to be "the Belgian Corot".
Henri Marthe Sylvie Rolin was a Belgian socialist politician, first part of the Belgian Workers' Party (POB-BWP) and later of its successor, the Belgian Socialist Party (PSB-BSP).
Albert Baertsoen was a Belgian painter, pastellist and graphic artist.
Charles Marie Joseph Désiré de Visscher was a Belgian scholar and practitioner of international law, as well as judge on the Permanent Court of International Justice and International Court of Justice.
Jules Van den Heuvel was a Roman Catholic politician from Ghent in Belgium.
