Allegory on the Reign of Emperor Rudolf II

Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn
(1565-1570 The Hague ? – 1620 Prague?)

Allegory on the Reign of Emperor Rudolf II
1603

oil, canvas, 215 x 143 cm; O 786.

 Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn was the son of a Hague glassmaker Claes Lauwers Ravesteyn. In 1589, after training with one of the students of Flemish painter Frans Floris de Vried, he was hired by the Prague court of Emperor Rudolf II where he worked for two decades as a skilled painter. For the Emperor he created paintings with religious and later mainly allegorical themes, among which is the only work signed by him and undoubtedly commissioned directly by the Emperor. A year before the painting was created, the imperial army conquered Pest in Hungary which was under siege by the Turks, so in the painting Mars is the allegory of war in the form of an idealised portrait of the Emperor, and with his own body he prevents the Turk from entering the scene. At the same time, the Goddess of Knowledge is pushing Mars away from the trio of semi-clad women embracing one another, crowned by Genius - Ceres with her horn of plenty, Justice with her sword and Peace with her dove. At the summit of the scene is the imperial eagle with an olive wreath and a palm branch as the symbols of a peaceful reign. The disproportionate shapes of the figures are due to the fact that the painting was made for a specifically designated place in the imperial palace, thus the artist took into consideration the view from below. A preparatory study for this painting is preserved In the Kulturgeschichtliches Museum in Osnabrück.