Rudolf Ii Habsburg - Tumblr Posts

Very eccentric.

As befits a dude who would rather collect art and ponder alchemy than rule, but also very much not random.

Copies of the painting were distributed across Europe, this was a political statement, this was supposed to bolster grandeour and near divinity of emperorship.

First there is the theme of the painting - Vertumnus

Vertumnus is a Roman god. And well, in Rudolph's time, in age of rennaissance, there wasn't much else beside Greco-Roman mythology that would be available and also not decried as pure devilry by church. But still, we are talking about deity that oversaw birth of Rome herself, clear callback to the empire on which tradition Holy Roman Empire was founded (yes, Voltaire, I know, Voltaire, it was neither holy, nor Roman, and by 18th century not much of empire either...). Habsburgs as heirs of Ceasar and Octavianus.

More specificaly Vertumnus is a god of seasonal change. That means he has control over frost breaking to let rivers flow and fields be worked, over crop growing under abudance of light rain and bright sun, or withering in drought and hail, over new beginnings and sweet fruits rewarding year-long hard labour. It is him who grants you your sustenance, your very survival. It is him who makes and breaks order of life and world. Order on which you depend and which you must not question, lest he might use his power to turn your life upside down. Without him in place all would fall into disarray. When he is halted, when he is ailing, all of you are as well. Beside guardianship he also enacts change while remaining eternal himself, the ultimate alchemist of all material bellow and immaterial above. And some radical changes were definitely afoot.

Rudolph's were trying times.

Habsburgs were still surfing on high tide, greatest power in Europe and New World, with highest income, backing papacy (now that it's been tamed) and catholicism (except that time when Rudolph's father Maximilian flirted with conversion, to his wife's horror), acting a bit like policeman. But it was also a very precarious and taxing position.

On the outside Ottoman empire that spent last century and some trying to gobble up Medditeranean, flood Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth and break through Vienna gate to have free pass into German states, thus threatening European economic, religious and administrative core. On the inside religious wars between various christian denominations sprinkled with clashes against regional bodies which resisted centralization. And neighbouring kingdoms (especially France) eager to see Habsburgs taken down a peg.

All permeated with high expactations for the age of discoveries, be them unknown rich lands or emerging sciences twined with occult mysteries. Times in which educated and noble elite attempted to turn base metals into gold that would pay off their ever growing debts. Times in which John Dee hoped to learn from angels about secrets with which he could explain and alter cosmos.

To become master of natural forces, religious discourse and political stage who will fix the grand mess, stay afloat torrents of different court factions, defeat Turks, sort out squabling christians and become true global power from his cerebral position between earth and heaven must have been a very attractive image both to psych himself up and to present to the public. Aspirations so much loftier than eventual results of his reign. Melancholic affliction did not help.

Then we can take a look at various details of the painting.

It is nothing short of smorgasbord. From early spring onions and summer cherries to late autumn chestnuts, crowned by wheat sown as trees shed their leaves before winter and sprouting from soil as soon as snows melt away. From basic grain and cabbage that feeds all the peasants to the expensive fruits like pomegranates and figs brought in carts of merchants travelling from distant countries, or flowers to be found only in the gardens of the richest. Grape that is mother of wine that is blood of Christ. And fairly universal currency as well. Olives that are mother of oil. Also currency. And the most exotic items of them all - corn, pumpkin, cucumber, all discovered in New World.

All this belongs to the holy roman emperor, folks, this vast territory, this wealth, this beauty, this power to pluck and use and share whatever he wishes from the very edges of earth.

Also...

I can't be the only one who finds those cherries in place of his lips rather erotic. Wouldn't wish to fuck him (sorry, Dolph), but those cherry lips sure are very suggestive. He was a hoe and he's got syphilis to prove it too.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo. Imperatore Rodolfo II d'Asburgo come Vertumno Giuseppe Arcimboldo. Rudolph II of Habsburg as Vertumnus Джузеппе Арчимбольдо. Портрет императора Рудольфа II в образе Вертумна 1590

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