Konrad Witz: International man of mystery.

He was born in Rottweil at some point until he moved to Basel and set up shop. Entered the guild, immigrated to innovate the art scene. And then he worked for 10 or 12 years until he died at the ripe old age of 36 (you could die of a bad splinter back then, so that ain't bad). He's a contemporary of Jan Van Eyck and followed in the tradition of central European painters with a really cerebral style. Other than his father being named Hans the Painter, that's pretty much all we have to go on... besides the art. But there's a lot you can tell about the guy from looking at the art. 

All of his paintings we know of are religious works. Altarpieces and the like. Which is kind of a "duh!", given the time period and that he likely moved to Basel for the bitchin' Cathedral scene. However, he was able to make water really look like water, which shows he was punching far above his artistic weight. He was also one of the first European painters to bring a realistic landscape game to religious paintings. People could look at Christ and the Apostles and be like, "No way, I was just walking by that mountain. Christ sure is great!" It really made Bible stories hit home. Looking over his work, you can tell the guy really cared. He wasn't phoning this stuff in. He was making the art that would pave the way for later developments we all take for granted, like water-y water.

He's most famous recently for his crew's playing cards, on view in 2016 at an exhibition at the Met. The exhibition showcases the only three known decks of playing cards to survive from Medieval Europe. Konrad was likely commissioned by a noble family to paint the hunting scenes hand drawn across the backs of each card. However, the project outlived him and was completed by friends and friends of friends. But Witz was the first to ante up.