Holy Family and Two Music-Making Angels

Jan Muller|Bartholomeus Spranger|Harmen Jansz. Muller

ca. 1588–92 · Engraving; probably second state of three (lacking titlespace below) · Drawings and Prints

Around 1590, Jan Muller began making engravings after designs by Bartholomeus Spranger, the court painter to the Emperor Rudolf II of Prague. Previously Hendrick Goltzius, the foremost Mannerist printmaker and most probably Muller’s teacher, had occupied the unofficial role as Spranger’s engraver, but when the former left the Netherlands to travel in Italy, Muller was the logical successor. The Holy Family with Two Music-Making Angels is Muller’s earliest print after Spranger and one of only two with religious rather than a mythological subjects, which were more typical of the worldly, sophisticated society of Rudolf’s court.

Artist

Jan Muller|Bartholomeus Spranger|Harmen Jansz. Muller

Date

ca. 1588–92

Medium

Engraving; probably second state of three (lacking titlespace below)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1953