Bartholomaeus Spranger

Bartholomeus Spranger or Bartholomaeus Spranger (21 March 1546 - August 1611) was a Flemish Northern Mannerist painter, draughtsman, and etcher. He was born in Antwerp. He is mentioned in Karel van Mander's Schilderboeck. In 1565, after completing his training with Cornelis van Dalem, Jan Mandijn, and Frans Mostaert, he traveled to Paris and Italy. He worked on wall paintings in various churches. At Rome, he became, like El Greco, a protege of Giulio Clovio. Pope Pius V appointed him court painter in 1570. He was summoned to Vienna by Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, who died soon after his arrival in 1576. But his successor Rudolf II was even more keen to employ him, and in 1581 he was appointed court painter, the court being by then having moved its seat to Prague, where he stayed until his death there in 1611, shortly before Rudolf was deposed. Rudolf arranged a wealthy marriage for him, and his house was a centre for artists in Prague.