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About This Work
This print showcases a sprawling palace garden in springtime, where workers are seen planting, digging, and building while noble figures wander the grounds. A central obelisk covered in symbolic carvings stands as a focal point near a tiered fountain, set against a backdrop of a distant castle on a hill. The composition balances the labor of cultivation with the leisure of the courtly class.
Created by the court engraver to Rudolf II, this image illustrates the Prague Mannerist interest in the mastery of nature and the revival of ancient wisdom. The inclusion of an obelisk with pseudo-hieroglyphs reflects the Neoplatonic and Hermetic fascination with Egypt as a source of primordial philosophy, common in the intellectual circles of the Rudolfine court.
Inscriptions
P. Stephani invent: Eg. Sadeler excud: VER Marco Sadeler excudit.
Translation
P. Stephani inventor: Eg. Sadeler publisher: SPRING Marco Sadeler publisher.
Connected Texts
Pierio Valeriano
The obelisk's carvings reflect the Renaissance tradition of 'Hieroglyphica', which sought to decode Egyptian symbols as moral and philosophical allegories.
Francesco Colonna
The idealized garden architecture and symbolic monuments evoke the dream-landscapes described in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
Provenance & Source
Object
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
paper
height 232 mm x width 324 mm
allegory
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 2, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.