Collector, Maecenas, Patient – The Tragic Life of Rudolf II

Giuseppe Arcimboldo, portrait of Rudolf II. Skokloster Collection SKO 11615. Photo: Erik Lernestal. cc-by 3.0 Unported License.
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Rudolf II went down in history as an unworldly emperor hiding in the witches’ kitchens of alchemists. His brothers stole his imperial crown while he was still alive. Justly? Unjustly? Let’s try to answer this question. In this three-part series we analyse the phenomenon Rudolf II. Here you find all three parts.

 

Part 1: The Young Man

Rudolf II went down in history as an unworldly emperor hiding in the witches’ kitchens of alchemists. His brothers stole his imperial crown while he was still alive. Justly? Unjustly? Let’s try to answer this question. [ read on ]

Part 2: The Emperor

On his coins, Rudolf II displayed the high aspirations he had for his reign. However, day-to-day business was though and then war broke out against the Turks. And medals played a crucial role in it. [ read on ]

Part 3: The Collector

As a result of the Turkish war, Rudolf saw his God-given omnipotence tarnished. Thus, the melancholy emperor sought refuge in his art collection, for which he always had money. However, this didn’t help him against his ambitious brother Matthias. [ read on ]

Oh, if you want to read the article in Czech, you can find it in our CoinsWeekly Special edition for Sberatel 2019 as PDF.