Porträt Rudolf II., Kaiser des Heiligen Römischen Reiches (1552-1612)

Portrait of Rudolf II The emperor is shown here as an older man in the chest pattern slightly to the right. His gaze is directed indefinitely. In addition to a mustache and natural hair, he wears a hat with feather on his head and a neck brace. Furthermore, it is wrapped in a richly decorated garment with richly decorated vest underneath and a crudge-like chain around its neck, whose pendant is no longer recognizable. The portrait is oval. A whole fair is presented around the portrait: while the frame is surrounded by fruits and birds, a coat of arms appears in the top. Figures on a parapet stand on the left and right of the frame: a woman with wings and a large feather holding like a staff, a naked man with eagle between his legs on the right, who apparently tries to get a unicorn horn from the portrait. Above all, a sun shines on the top left. In the upper left and right corner, other coats of arms and the words “SALVTI PVBLICAE” appear. Under the effigy, a cartouche equipped with a fitting was inserted, describing the depicted. Rudolf II was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (1576-1612), King of Bohemia (1575-1611) and King of Hungary (1572-1608) and Archduke of Austria (1576-1608). He had his yard in Prague. He was considered a great patron of art. His collection of works of art was enormous and included the basis of the collection of Brueghel from the Museum of Art History in Vienna. This included a collection of coins. He also regularly gathered artists at his farm, such as the Dutch artist Adriaen de Vries. Rudolf II himself worked as a goldsmith. There is no evidence of a steer and a template in the sheet. For this purpose, the collections, which also have a specimen of the leaf, deal with the repertoire of representations: according to the LWL Museum of Art and Culture in Münster, the accompanying figures are Jupiter and a woman with palm branch. In addition, the leaf here is a type print. The starting point for the portrait was probably a painting by the German painter and Cologne native Hans von Aachen (1552-1615), who created many personalities at the Prague court of Rudolf II as portraits. Von Aachen painted the picture between 1606 and 1608 and it is now in the Museum of Art History in Vienna. According to the Munich State Graphic Collection, the present engraving, probably an etching technique, was produced between 1576 and 1700, a very vague dating. And according to the University of Mannheim, the portrait is said to have been used in Dominicus Custo’s publication: “Atrium heroicum Caesarum, regum, [...] imaginibus [...] illustr [atum],” published in several volumes ziwschen 1600 and 1602 in Augsburg. This has not been proven so far. In general, it can be said that the portrait was very often engraved, only the repertoire provided changed.. Caption: RVDOLPHVS II. IMP. AVG. P.F. INCL. VICTOR. PP. [Cartouche] RODOLPH: II. ADEO DAT. FETCHING. PRINC. REIQ. ROM. DNS, FVNDATOR PVBL. QVIETIS: ET EXTINCTOR TVRCAE EERAE TYRANNDIS. PATR. PAT. SEMP. AVGVST. REX BOHEM. REX HVNGARIAE & ARCHID. AVSTR. & Non finemente geris, CAESAR, fine numine, nomen quod de gente tua Caesar habebat idem. Hic, ut pace frui posst, nam, bella Hbat; Non alium spectant & tua bella scopum. Huic lex fumma, SALVS POPVLI, fuit: una SALVTI ADSIS ut PVBLICAE, te quoque cura coquit. HISP. ((Händel-Haus Halle Foundation)