Exhibition to see !
At the British Museum – The Art of Printmaking in Prague at the Court of Rudolph II – Exhibition from March 17 to August 28, 2022
The Roman Emperor Rudolph II, Prince of the House of Habsburg (Vienna, 1552 – Prague, 1612) was an avid collector and a knowledgeable patron of the arts.
The exhibition, which runs at the British Museum from March 17 to August 28, 2022, celebrates the art of printmaking at Rudolph II’s court in Prague during an intense period of innovation and artistic creation from about 1580 to the early years of the 17th century. This period was a fragile moment of interfaith balance before the storms of the Thirty Years’ War.
After moving his court to the Bohemian capital of Prague, Rudolph II transformed the city into a vibrant center of art and science. He acquired objects from all over Europe and beyond and built up one of the most important and diverse collections of his time.
His vast collection of thousands of paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and other objects of curiosity led the Flemish painter and writer Karel van Mander (1548-1606) to describe him in 1604 as the world’s greatest patron of art.
Rudolph also sought out leading artists for his court, including painters and sculptors who specialized in creating elegant Mannerist forms.
Aegidius II Sadeler was appointed imperial court engraver and, together with Hendrick Goltzius and Jan Harmensz Muller, they reproduced the works of artists active at Rudolph II’s court, including those of the Mannerist painter and lesser engraver, Bartholomeus Spranger (1546-1611).
The print reproductions on view in this exhibition contribute to the dissemination of the Mannerist style that developed at the court of Rudolph II to a much wider public.
