Rudolf II and his artists

Rudolf II is often remembered as a great patron of art, as someone who was passionate about collecting and who managed to create the largest art collection in all Europe, called "Kunstkammer".

Rudolf II. - busta

Adrian de Vries:
Rudolf II. (1607)
Hans von Aachen of Köln married the daughter of Orlando di Lasso, a famous composer of that time, whose works are still performed. Von Aachen worked for years in Italy, then was a court painter for the Bavarian Duke Wilhelm V, and from 1507 he lived in Prague. Rudolf bestowed favour on him and 1604 he knighted him. Hans von Aachen obtained for the imperial collection the famous antique torso called Ilione, by Praxiteles. This torso became a memento of Rudolfian collections of its kind. It remained at Prague Castle until 1782 when it was auctioned off for 30 Kreuzers by enlightnement administration of the Emperor Joseph II. Today it can be seen in the Glyptothek collection in Munich.
The Swiss Joseph Heintz appointed court painter of Rudolf II in 1591. He mainly devoted himself to drawing, and probably under the influence of Hans von Aachen, also became interested in painting. In the Emperor's service he often stayed in Italy. In Graz and Innsbruck he portrayed for the Emperor ladies from high society who were considered as potential candidates for his wife.
One of the famous painter of Rudolf II was the Italian Giuseppe Arcimboldo. His renown is mainly due to his originally conceived painting, wittilx composed of vegitables, fruit, flowers, etc. He thus created allegories - of the seasons, elements, and others.
The Netherlandish painter Bartolomäus Spranger came from Antwerp. He worked as a court painter of Rudolf II from 1581. He settled in Prague, becoming member of tje Malá Strana (Lesser Town) painters' guild in 1584. A year later he married the daughter of the goldsmith Mikulas Müller.

Rudolf II. jako Vertumnus

Giuseppe Arcimboldo:
Rudolf II. like Vertumnus (1590)
Few people know, however, that Arcimboldo was already active aat the court of Rudolf's father Maximilian and that he was also a designer of costumes for court ceremonies, a musician and draughtsman who documented important political evenets. Even this painter was knighted in 1580. In 1592 Emperor Rudolf II allowed him to return to Italy, where Arcimboldo died a year later.
Rudolf's collections included the works of the painter and draghtsman Roeland Savery
(in Prague from 1604), prints by Egidius Sadeler (court painter from 1597), whouse numerous copper engravings are notoriously known, even if not many of us are aware of their artist; the works by the miniature painter Joris Hoefnagel from Antwerp, from 1590 also a court painter, who was mainly interested in representing plants and animals, in which he achieved exceptional virtuosity; the works of Pieter Stevens, whouse numerous views of Prague now document the city' appearance during the rule of Rudolf II.

Rudolf's sculptors included the pupil of the renowned Italian Giovanni Bologna, Adrian de Vries, who worked in Prague particularly in the years 1601 -1612. After Rudolf' death in 1626 he worked for Albrecht of Wallenstein. The most famous works of Adrian de Vries include the portrait busts of the Emperor, his equestrian statue and the sculptures he created for the garden of Wallenstein Palace, which are now in Sweden. His works are now parts of exhibitions in London, Gotha, Drottningholm and Paris.

The most remarkable works of the "Kunstkammer" undoubtedly included items of goldsmithing and stonecutting crafts. Rudolf managed to employ in his service outstanding craftsmen from Italy. the Netherlands and Germany. One of the foremost was the gem cutter Ottavio Miseroni, who came from Milan and worked for the Emperor from 1588. (Czech painter Karel Skreta portrayed his son Dionysio in a painting which is now at the national Gallery in Prague). He produced dozens of goblets and bowls of precious stones and quartz, linked by gold, whose most distinct feature is the relief figural and ornamental cutting. He is the auther of many cameo cuts, he discovered the techniques of a relief mosaic work.

The goldsmith and sculptor Paulus van Vianen from Utrecht started in the imperial service in 1603. Before, he worked as a court artist of the Bavarian Elector and he also spent a year in the servide of the archbishop of Salzburg. His works include vessels decorated with rich figural scenes. With the other goldsmith Jan Vermeyen is the author of beaten metal and jewellery on the gold crown of Rudolf II, now in the Weltliche Schatzkammer, Vienna.

Gem and glass cutter Caspar Lehman worked for rhe Emperor from 1588. In 1595 he was knighted by Rudolf II and in 1609 he was granted privilege for this type of glass decoration, which mainly be loaned from the Museum of Art History in Vienna, where the "Kunstkammer" forms part of the collection.

Naturally, the collections of the Emperor Rudolf II cannot be reconstructed at present, but at least they can be evoked, if the exhibition is sufficiently broad-ranged. That is precisely the goal of the exhibition that is about to be opened.