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Erotica & sapientia. Rudolf II’s early years at Prague Castle

100%

Uličný P.

Umění (Art)

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2021

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vol. 69

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issue 4

390-415

EN

In 1579 Rudolf II envisaged the construction of a grand royal palace at Prague Castle, with an extensive sculptural programme that he undoubtedly planned to commission from Giambologna’s pupil Hans Mont. However, Rudolf shelved the project and Mont left the Prague court in exasperation. In the early years of his reign, Rudolf was clearly looking for a style, and also the painter Bartholomeus Spranger, who waited for several years in Vienna for the emperor’s commission, fell victim to this search. His biographer Karel van Mander even wrote that Rudolf had little interest in art at that time. Thanks to a valuable report by Hans Ulrich Krafft in 1584, however, we know that the emperor already possessed a collection of art, but which had a distinctly erotic content. This was the reason why Rudolf concealed it from his wider society. It was not until 1588 that envoys at the Prague court began to report Rudolf’s preference for ‘lascivious’ art. It was also at the same time that the emperor decided to build a large picture gallery at the castle, called the Spanish Hall, the present Rudolf Gallery and established his magnificence and his reputation as one of the greatest patrons of art in Europe. On his way to it, he built the Summer House near his palace at the castle in about 1579–1582, and this became the home of his ‘erotic Kunstkammer’. Around 1586 he also had a studiolo created on the second floor of the White Tower, which shows that Rudolf was inspired by the towers of Neugebäude, but unlike this model, he kept the decoration in Prague modest, like in the summer palace in the Imperial Mill, which was completed in 1594. While in the older Habsburg architecture there was a contrast between the austere palaces and richly decorated leisure structures, Rudolf seems to have come up with a new concept: buildings with a representational function were to be elaborately articulated, whereas private structures, including summer houses, were to be of modest form. Spranger’s fresco of Hermathena in the vault of the studiolo, inspired by the studiolo in the Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola, was intended to symbolise to symbolise the abode of a wise monarch, as were other planned frescos. It was thus erotica & sapientia that defined Rudolf’s programme in his early years at Prague Castle, and later also played a crucial role in his subsequent magnificent period.

CS

V roce 1579 Rudolf II. na Pražském hradě zamýšlel stavbu velkého královského paláce s bohatou sochařskou výzdobou, u které nepochybně plánoval, že ji provede Giambolognův žák Hans Mont. Tato idea byla zřejmě inspirována interiéry věží Neugebäude, které ještě za Maxmiliána II. v letech 1575–1576 sochařsky zdobil právě Mont. Rudolf však projekt odložil a Mont rozezlen odešel z pražského dvora. Rudolf v počátcích své vlády evidentně hledal svůj styl a na to doplatil i malíř Bartholomeus Spranger, který čekal několik let ve Vídni na císařovu zakázku. Karel van Mander, Sprangerův biograf, dokonce napsal, že v prvních letech vlády neměl Rudolf o umění velký zájem. Díky zprávě Hanse Ulricha Kraffta z roku 1584 však víme, že císař již tehdy vlastnil sbírku umění, ovšem erotického obsahu, kterou před svým okolím Rudolf skrýval, a nejspíš proto svoji inklinaci k umění nedával najevo. Až v roce 1588 vyslanci při pražském dvoře referovali, že Rudolf preferuje „lascivní“ umění, což bylo zároveň v době, kdy se císař na hradě rozhodl vybudovat velkou obrazovou galerii, Španělský sál, dnešní Rudolfova galerie. Tehdy císař konečně našel to, čím vytvořil svoji velkolepost a pověst jednoho z největších patronů umění v Evropě. Na cestě k ní vybudoval přibližně v 1579–1582 u svého paláce na Pražském hradě letní dům, ve kterém našla místo jeho „erotická kunstkomora“ a kolem roku 1586 také studiolo v druhém patře Bílé věže. Na této dochované prostoře lze demonstrovat, že i zde byl Rudolf inspirován věžemi z Neugebäude, ale oproti tamní bohaté výzdobě, byla v Praze velmi střídmá, stejně jako v grottě jeho letohrádku Císařský mlýn, dokončená v roce 1594. Zatímco u starších habsburských staveb existoval kontrast mezi jejich strohými paláci a bohatě zdobenými letohrádky, zdá se, že Rudolf přišel s novým konceptem. Stavby s reprezentační funkcí měly být náročně členěné, kdežto privátní objekty, včetně letohrádků, měly být jen skromné architektury. Sprangerova freska Hermatheny v klenbě studiola, inspirovaná studiolem v Palazzo Farnese v Caprarole, pak měla ukazovat na příbytek moudrého panovníka, stejně jako další plánované malby. Byla to tak erotica & sapientia, která definovala Rudolfův program jeho prvních let na Pražském hradě a která hrála zásadní roli i v jeho následujícím velkolepém období.

2

Uwolnić alchemika: zabiegi Zygmunta III na dworze cesarskim o wypuszczenie z więzienia w Pradze Michała Sędziwoja. Nowe źródła

88%

Skowron R.

Śląski Kwartalnik Historyczny Sobótka

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2019

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vol. 74

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issue 1

101-112

EN

The article presents the efforts of Sigismund III Vasa at the imperial court to free the eminent Polish alchemist Michał Sędziwój (Michael Sendivogius) from Prague prison. The analyzed correspondence and instructions for emissaries depict diversified mechanisms of king’s action in this matter. The collected sources allow also for a verification of research findings to date concerning some important fact from the alchemist’s life, such as the period of his imprisonment in Prague, of his service as a diplomat, as well as his ennoblement and bestowment of the office of king’s secretary. The articles concludes with an edition of discussed sources.

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Deskové právo českých měst a "inkolátní" privilegia z doby Rudolfa II.

75%

Starý M., Miller S.

Český časopis historický (The Czech Historical Review)

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2023

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vol. 121

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issue 1

93-118

EN

The study deals with the issue of the legal capacity of towns and their burghers to acquire tables estates in the Bohemian kingdom in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. This legal capacity was, in principle, tied to royal permission on a case-by-case basis. Already in the Middle Ages, however, some towns received a privilege that exempted them from the obligation to apply for royal approval across the board. The main focus of the study is on the period of the 16th century, when the towns of Prague were temporarily deprived of this privilege, but on the contrary, they received the same right during the reign of Rudolf II as well as two other cities – Pilsen and Žatec. The aim is not only to interpret the content of the mentioned privileges, but also to place them in a wider legal framework and, last but not least, to warn about the unsuccessful initiative of Lesser Town to obtain the same privilege from the monarch.

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Nizozemští, vlámští a valonští obchodníci v rudolfinské Praze

51%

Buňatová M.

Český časopis historický (The Czech Historical Review)

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2023

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vol. 121

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issue 3

703-735

EN

The study is focused on the topic of immigration to pre-White Mountain (before 1620) Prague from the Netherlands, whose territory today lies in the states of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and partially (northern) France. Although the Dutch immigration in Prague was not numerically very extensive, it nevertheless represented a distinct socio-cultural and religiously specific group. Research up to now has focused primarily on the circle of artistic and intellectual elites of the Rudolphine court, where such important Flemish artists worked as, for example, the painter Bartholomaeus Spranger, the sculptor Adriaen de Vries, the engraver Aegidius Sadeler, or the music composer Philippe de Monte. Natives from Flanders, Wallonia, Brabant, and the Netherlands were also represented among courtiers, court officials, as well as among court craftsmen and merchants, and at the same time some settled as burghers in individual towns of Prague. The aim of the study is to describe, based on primary sources, the reasons and routes that brought specific natives from the Netherlands region to Prague and, on this basis, to characterise the more general causes and course of Dutch immigration. Considering that this was not a socio-economically homogeneous group, the focus is specifically on the group of traders, financiers, and artisans. The aim is therefore to characterise the motivations of Dutch immigrants for coming to the city, to describe their economic activity in Prague, and to try to evaluate their socio-economic and personal relationships established in the new milieu.

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2 Český časopis historický (The Czech Historical Review)

1 Umění (Art)

1 Śląski Kwartalnik Historyczny Sobótka

1 Buňatová M.

1 Miller S.

1 Skowron R.

1 Starý M.

1 Uličný P.

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1 2019

Erotica & sapientia. Rudolf II’s early years at Prague Castle

Uwolnić alchemika: zabiegi Zygmunta III na dworze cesarskim o wypuszczenie z więzienia w Pradze Michała Sędziwoja. Nowe źródła

Deskové právo českých měst a "inkolátní" privilegia z doby Rudolfa II.

Nizozemští, vlámští a valonští obchodníci v rudolfinské Praze