Egidius Sadeler II

In addition to those artists who worked directly for him, the engraver Hendrick Goltzius generated a number of followers who adopted his technique farther afield. Flemish-born Aegidius Sadeler II spent most of his career in Germany and then as imperial printmaker to a succession of Holy Roman Emperors at the court of Prague. Sadeler’s portrait exhibits all of Goltzius’s innovations, but on a less heroic scale. It also incorporates the delicate hatching and atmospheric, tonal background more typical of the Antwerp fine manner.

This official court portrait depicts the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (r. 1576–1612) wearing the victor's laurel crown and dressed in armor with a clasp bearing the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The inscription reads “Augustus, the triumphant emperor,” linking Rudolf to the glorious Roman ruler of the past. The eagle and fish-tailed goat at the top of the print were emblems used by Augustus. Bracketing the portrait are personifications of Rudolf’s enlightened reign.