Carolus V Austriacus Romanorum Imperator (1601)

By: Dominicus Custos (1550/59-1615) - Giovanni Battista Fontana (1541-1587)

Size: 17.25 H x 12.13 W inches

Source: SCHRENCK VON NOTZING, Jakob (+ 1612).Augustissimorum Imperatorum, Regum ... verissimae imagines, ... Illustrissimorum Principum, necnon Comitum, Baronum, Nobilium, aliorumq[ue] clarissimorum virorum, qui aut ipsi cum imperio bellorum Duces fuerunt ... gestarum succinctae descriptiones. Quorum Arma ... a Serenissimo Principe Ferdinando, Archiduce Austriae ... Ex omnibus ... Provinciis partim conquisita ... in celebri Ambrosianae arcis Armamentario ... civitate Oenipontana extructo, conspiciuntur.

Item #: 80206

From the illustrious work commissioned by The Roman Catholic Archduke Ferdinand II of Tirol (1529-1595), who was an avid collector of weaponry and armor, that had originally belonged to all sorts of princes and potentates. His main interest was history, and in order to document this interest he created the pictorial program of the so-called "Spanish Hall" and a collection of over 1000 portraits of European nobleman and women. He assigned his personal secretary Jacob Schrenck von Notzing to write a catalogue of the collection of armory (Heldenrüstkammer) housed at Schloss Ambras near Innsbruck which finally was brought to print in 1601. The magnificent catalogue (known as Armamentarium heroicum) shows very rare examples of armor from the 15th and 16th centuries which originally belonged to illustrious persons such as the Emperor Maximilian I or Prince Maurice of Orange. The objects themselves were displayed in Ambras castle in a strict hierarchic order. In 1582 the Antwerp born Augsburg engraver and publisher Dominicus Custos (1550/59-1615) started to engrave the in all 126 portraits after the drawings of Giovanni Battista Fontana (1541-1587). The book is designed so that a full-length portrait engraving of the armor's former owner faces a page containing the biography of the figure shown. The noble figures are all in full armor and standing in niches with elaborate surroundings of ornamental columns.

$185