- After
- Hans van Aachen
Cologne, Germany, active Prague, Czech Republic, 1552-1615 - Title
- Portrait of Bartholomeus Spranger
- Date Made
- 1597
- Medium
- Engraving
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 5 1/8 × 3 7/8 in. (13.02 × 9.84 cm)
Image: 5 × 3 3/4 in. (12.7 × 9.53 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.88.91.408b
- Collecting Area
- Prints and Drawings
- Curatorial Notes
One of the foremost engravers working in a Mannerist style in Amsterdam, Muller produced a number of printed portraits of important political and cultural figures at the turn of the seventeenth century. Among them was Bartholomeus Spranger (1546−1611), a significant figure in Northern art of the late sixteenth century and a painter in the service of Pope Pius V, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II, and Emperor Rudolf II of Prague. In this exceptional engraved likeness, Spranger gazes assuredly outward, his brow furrowed thoughtfully, his lips slightly parted as if he were about to speak.
At least seven states of this print are known, with later impressions including beyond the portrait oval an elaborate architectural framework filled with symbolic references to Spranger’s many virtues. While Muller made twelve engravings after the master Mannerist artist’s designs, this work is based on a drawing by Spranger’s German contemporary Hans van Aachen, a prominent artist who also painted for the court of Rudolf II.
Claire Spadafora Baes
2025
- Selected Bibliography
- Bartsch, Adam von. The Illustrated Bartsch. New York: Abaris Books, 1978.
- Hollstein, F. W. H. Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings, and Woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700. Amsterdam: M. Hertzberger, 1949.
