558
With Savery painting his every dreamscape, Rudolf had all but embraced the life of
a recluse in his “Wunderkammer,” with its chameleons, crocodiles, fish, and a bird
of paradise.
13
These, and countless other entities would be inventoried between
1607 and 1611 by another court painter, Daniel Fröschl.
14
Following his successful usurpation, Emperor Matthias moved much of
Rudolf’s collections—now considered perhaps the greatest in Europe, dominated
by what would come to be known as “Rudolfine Mannerism”
15
—to Vienna, as
political conditions spun awry; what would come to be known as the Thirty Years’
War.
16
The Holy Roman Empire was disintegrating. Rudolf’s family predecessor,
Ferdinand II had long before set in motion a mad foment polarizing Roman
Catholics and Protestants. The three decades of ensuing chaos would leave over
eight million people, and unknown Others, dead, victims of violent clashes and
famine. Rebellions turned into atrocities, which triggered an endless series of
revenge massacres, from Bohemia to Saxony; from the Southern Netherlands
where Savery had come from, to Spain. Dozens of territories and nations were
drawn into the European-wide hatreds and grotesque affronts on battlefields, and
in villages, combatants arriving from Scotland to Prussia. It was certainly and
quickly the end of an era, and most definitively for the once glorious city of Prague.
Endless turmoil, followed by months of steady bombardment near the end, had
reduced her population three-fold, an accurate template of what humans had been
doing to all the birds.
17
Even after the fragile treaties of Münster formulated as part of the Peace of
Westphalia, European governance was to be suddenly dominated by the Swedes,
which would have lasting consequences for what remained of Rudolf’s remarkable
art and natural history collections. Prague was sacked in 1648 by Swedish troops,
the best of the remaining paintings swept up into Queen Christina’s orbit, shipped
13 A Rich Cultural History: Prague and Rudolf II,” by Erin Naillon, February 24, 2017, https://
cz.cityspy.network/prague/features/rudolf-ii-prague/. Accessed April 24, 2020.
14 See “Rudolf II’s ‘Wunderkammer’ and fascination with the exotic,” by Damian Brenninkmeyer,
April 6, 2017, Dorotheum Blog, https://blog.dorotheum.com/en/rudolf-ii-wunderkammer/
Accessed April 24, 2020. See also, Alchemy Of The Gift: Things And Material Transformations At
The Court Of Rudolf II, by Ivana Horacek, University of British Columbia Theses and Dissertations,
2015. https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0166243, Accessed
April 24, 2020.
15 See “Holy Ronan Emperor Rudolf II – 1576–1612,” Holy Roman Empire Association ©, n.a.,
http://www.holyromanempireassociation.com/holy-roman-emperor-rudolf-ii.html,
Accessed
April 24, 2020.
16 See “The private Museum (Kunstkammer) of Rudolf II,” by René Zandbergen, 2018, http://
www.voynich.nu/extra/inventory.html, Accessed April 24, 2020.
17 See “The Art, Science sand Lechery of Rudolf II,” by Jane Perlez, The New York Times, June 4,
1997,
https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/04/arts/the-art-science-and-lechery-of-rudolf-ii.html.
Accessed April 24, 2020. See Peter H. Wilson, Europe’s Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty
Years War, Penguin, London, 2010. See also, “Researchers Catalogue the Grisly Deaths of Soldiers
in then Thirty Years’ War,” by Jason Daley, Smithsonian Magazine, June 6, 2017, https://www.
smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-catalogue-grisly-deaths-soldiers-thirty-yearswar-180963531/, [Imagery of newly uncovered mass graves.] Accessed April 25, 2020.
59 Savery’s Castle of Secrets
With Savery painting his every dreamscape, Rudolf had all but embraced the life of
a recluse in his “Wunderkammer,” with its chameleons, crocodiles, fish, and a bird
of paradise.
13
These, and countless other entities would be inventoried between
1607 and 1611 by another court painter, Daniel Fröschl.
14
Following his successful usurpation, Emperor Matthias moved much of
Rudolf’s collections—now considered perhaps the greatest in Europe, dominated
by what would come to be known as “Rudolfine Mannerism”
15
—to Vienna, as
political conditions spun awry; what would come to be known as the Thirty Years’
War.
16
The Holy Roman Empire was disintegrating. Rudolf’s family predecessor,
Ferdinand II had long before set in motion a mad foment polarizing Roman
Catholics and Protestants. The three decades of ensuing chaos would leave over
eight million people, and unknown Others, dead, victims of violent clashes and
famine. Rebellions turned into atrocities, which triggered an endless series of
revenge massacres, from Bohemia to Saxony; from the Southern Netherlands
where Savery had come from, to Spain. Dozens of territories and nations were
drawn into the European-wide hatreds and grotesque affronts on battlefields, and
in villages, combatants arriving from Scotland to Prussia. It was certainly and
quickly the end of an era, and most definitively for the once glorious city of Prague.
Endless turmoil, followed by months of steady bombardment near the end, had
reduced her population three-fold, an accurate template of what humans had been
doing to all the birds.
17
Even after the fragile treaties of Münster formulated as part of the Peace of
Westphalia, European governance was to be suddenly dominated by the Swedes,
which would have lasting consequences for what remained of Rudolf’s remarkable
art and natural history collections. Prague was sacked in 1648 by Swedish troops,
the best of the remaining paintings swept up into Queen Christina’s orbit, shipped
13 A Rich Cultural History: Prague and Rudolf II,” by Erin Naillon, February 24, 2017, https://
cz.cityspy.network/prague/features/rudolf-ii-prague/. Accessed April 24, 2020.
14 See “Rudolf II’s ‘Wunderkammer’ and fascination with the exotic,” by Damian Brenninkmeyer,
April 6, 2017, Dorotheum Blog, https://blog.dorotheum.com/en/rudolf-ii-wunderkammer/
Accessed April 24, 2020. See also, Alchemy Of The Gift: Things And Material Transformations At
The Court Of Rudolf II, by Ivana Horacek, University of British Columbia Theses and Dissertations,
2015. https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0166243, Accessed
April 24, 2020.
15 See “Holy Ronan Emperor Rudolf II – 1576–1612,” Holy Roman Empire Association ©, n.a.,
http://www.holyromanempireassociation.com/holy-roman-emperor-rudolf-ii.html,
Accessed
April 24, 2020.
16 See “The private Museum (Kunstkammer) of Rudolf II,” by René Zandbergen, 2018, http://
www.voynich.nu/extra/inventory.html, Accessed April 24, 2020.
17 See “The Art, Science sand Lechery of Rudolf II,” by Jane Perlez, The New York Times, June 4,
1997,
https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/04/arts/the-art-science-and-lechery-of-rudolf-ii.html.
Accessed April 24, 2020. See Peter H. Wilson, Europe’s Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty
Years War, Penguin, London, 2010. See also, “Researchers Catalogue the Grisly Deaths of Soldiers
in then Thirty Years’ War,” by Jason Daley, Smithsonian Magazine, June 6, 2017, https://www.
smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-catalogue-grisly-deaths-soldiers-thirty-yearswar-180963531/, [Imagery of newly uncovered mass graves.] Accessed April 25, 2020.
59 Savery’s Castle of Secrets