Bellona Leading the Armies of the Emperor against the Turks

1600

after Bartholomaeus Spranger

(Flemish, 1546–1611)

Culture

Netherlands, early 17th Century

Medium

engraving (printed from two plates)

Support

Cream(1) laid paper

Measurements

Image: 66.2 x 50.3 cm (26 1/16 x 19 13/16 in.); Sheet: 70.8 x 51.2 cm (27 7/8 x 20 3/16 in.)

Credit Line

Edwin R. and Harriet Pelton Perkins Memorial Fund 1985.142

Catalogue raisonné

Hollstein XIV.107.50

State

I/II

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Location

101A Prints & Drawings

Description

The central, striding figure, Bellona (the Roman goddess of war), is said to be either the sister or the wife of Mars, god of war. The double-headed eagle of the Habsburgs appears on the flag behind her. Born in Amsterdam, Jan Muller probably learned engraving from his father, Harman Muller, a printmaker and publisher. He traveled to Italy in the 1590s and presumably stopped in Prague along the way. There he made prints based on designs by artists employed at the Habsburg court, including Bartholomeaus Spranger (1546–1611).