BOL, HANS or JOHN, a painter, born at Mechlin in 1534. He received his first instructions from a master of no great repute, whom he soon left; and going to Heidelberg, employed himself in copying several pictures of the eminent artists. His subjects are chiefly landscapes with animals; but he also sometimes painted history, with no small success. We have by him a set of landscapes, views in Holland, slightly etched, but in a style that indicates the hand of the master. He died in 1593.