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Original fileAlbrecht van Beieren
About This Work
The figure is depicted in a dignified stance, wearing a long fur-lined robe over plate armor and a decorative headdress. He holds a massive broadsword vertically in his right hand and a shield bearing the Bavarian-Dutch coat of arms in his left. This engraving belongs to a historical series of the Counts of Holland, accompanied by Dutch text detailing his lineage and reign.
As a work by Hendrick Goltzius, this portrait exemplifies the 16th-century humanist project of documenting regional history and noble genealogy through high-quality printmaking. Goltzius was a central figure in the Haarlem Mannerist circle, a group whose technical innovations in engraving were deeply respected by the intellectual and artistic elite of the Northern Renaissance.