Declaration of War before Constantine
by AACHEN, Hans von, Parchment mounted on canvas, 34 x 42 cm
From a series of what must originally have been twelve compositions of Allegories on the Wars against the Turks (1593-1606), painted on parchment and assembled in book form, seven oil sketches have been preserved (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum; Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts), one composition is known from an engraving and four others from drawn copies of which there are eleven in all, likewise bound together as a book (Dresden, Kupferstichkabinet).
The present painting is one of the five preserved in Vienna.