VRIES, Adriaen de

Two fine bronze allegorical reliefs characteristic of the iconography of Rudolfian court art are the Allegory on the Turkish War in Hungary (1603, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) and Rudolf II introducing the Liberal Arts to Bohemia (1609; Windsor Castle, Royal Collection). Such works reveal stylistic and thematic similarities with works by the Prague court painters; indeed, the Turkish War was modelled after designs by Hans von Aachen.

This bronze relief, a counterpart to the statue of Rudolph II as patron of the arts, has a highly complicated iconography. On it appear allegories of rivers, the imperial lion attacking the Ottoman dragon, and the emperor crowning Hungary, who has been liberated by Minerva and Hercules; on a battlefield bristling with banners and weapons, cavalry skirmishes at the foot of the Raab fortress, while in a sky strewn with astrological symbols a flourish of trumpets sounds the victory. The sensitive handling of relief links it closely with the art of Cellini, and also shows that de Vries, not content with the sculpture in bronze, was trying to emulate the techniques of painting.

This frontal view of the statuette reflects the inspiration from the famous antique representation of the god, the Apollo Belvedere, but the spiraling composition, resolved into clearly defined views from sides and back moves to the multiple viewpoints favoured by the great representative of the Mannerist style, Giambologna. Creating an elegant pose concerned the sculptor more than depicting realistic action.

Formerly attributed to Giambologna, or Benvenuta Cellini, the statuette was executed by Adriaen de Vries during his stay in Augsburg between 1594 and 1598. A preparatory drawing for the Apollo is in Gdansk. The attribution is based on an engraving by Jan Muller, which identified De Vries as the design’s inventor.

This is a preparatory drawing for the Apollo statuette in New York.

This relief was made in the artist’s Prague period, when he was in the service of Emperor Rudolf II, at a time when he was at the height of his fame and was regarded as one of the pre-eminent sculptors of his day.

It was Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos of Crete, who helped Theseus, whom she loved, to escape from the labyrinth with the aid of a ball of string, but all she had in return was to be abandoned by him on the island of Naxos. Here Bacchus came to her rescue. Classical representations show Ariadne asleep when Bacchus arrives, as described by Philostratus.

Adriaen de Vries became court sculptor of Rudolf II (1552-1612) in 1601 and created this bust as a conscious citation of Leone Leoni’s bust of Charles V. In comparison with this model, however, this portrayal has a slight twist, and by elevating Rudolf’s gaze this ruler (who was actually shy) is endowed with a majestic dignity.

Adriaen de Vries became court sculptor of Rudolf II (1552-1612) in 1601 and created this bust as a conscious citation of Leone Leoni’s bust of Charles V. In comparison with this model, however, this portrayal has a slight twist, and by elevating Rudolf’s gaze this ruler (who was actually shy) is endowed with a majestic dignity.

This work can be viewed equally well from all sides because the figures are twisting - or serpentining - around their own axes. Such serpentinata is a typical feature of Mannerism, a courtly style that de Vries appropriated while studying under the sculptor Giambologna in Florence as a young man.

The statue was created for a counselor of Emperor Rudolf II as a centrepiece of his tomb monument in the Holy Trinity Church in Roths�rben (Z�rawina). De Vries had cast the group during his hypothetical stay in Rome in 1604.

The work has a signature and date: Adrianus Fries Hagensis Ficit 1604.

In the course of an international career, de Vries’ services were called upon by some of the greatest art patrons of the time: the Duc de Savoie, the Emperor Rudolph II, the King of Denmark, Duke Albert von Wallenstein, and the City of Augsburg. This fountain crowned by a a symbol of Virtue - a statue of Hercules conquering the Hydra - is one of three fountains put up to mark the sixteen-hundredth anniversary of the city. These fountains represent the three estates of the free imperial town: the masters (Augustus fountain), the merchants (Mercurius fountain) and the craftsmen (Hercules fountain).

The Hercules fountain, a monumental Italianate work, is De Vries’s most significant work. The original is in the Maximilian Museum in Augsburg.

In the course of an international career, de Vries’ services were called upon by some of the greatest art patrons of the time: the Duc de Savoie, the Emperor Rudolph II, the King of Denmark, Duke Albert von Wallenstein, and the City of Augsburg. This fountain crowned by a a symbol of Virtue - a statue of Hercules conquering the Hydra - is one of three fountains put up to mark the sixteen-hundredth anniversary of the city. These fountains represent the three estates of the free imperial town: the masters (Augustus fountain), the merchants (Mercurius fountain) and the craftsmen (Hercules fountain).

The Hercules fountain, a monumental Italianate work, is De Vries’s most significant work. The original is in the Maximilian Museum in Augsburg.

In the course of an international career, de Vries’ services were called upon by some of the greatest art patrons of the time: the Duc de Savoie, the Emperor Rudolph II, the King of Denmark, Duke Albert von Wallenstein, and the City of Augsburg. This fountain crowned by a a symbol of Virtue - a statue of Hercules conquering the Hydra - is one of three fountains put up to mark the sixteen-hundredth anniversary of the city. These fountains represent the three estates of the free imperial town: the masters (Augustus fountain), the merchants (Mercurius fountain) and the craftsmen (Hercules fountain).

The Hercules fountain, a monumental Italianate work, is De Vries’s most significant work. The original is in the Maximilian Museum in Augsburg.

This fountain crowned by a a symbol of Virtue - a statue of Hercules conquering the Hydra - is one of three fountains put up to mark the sixteen-hundredth anniversary of the city.

This fountain crowned by a a symbol of Virtue - a statue of Hercules conquering the Hydra - is one of three fountains put up to mark the sixteen-hundredth anniversary of the city.

The nude young woman washing her feet in a basin, surrounded by a group of swans and children, is one of the three beautiful female figures modelled by the artist for this monument, which turned a local marketplace into a dwelling place of gods.

Six of the small drawing oeuvre of Adriaen de Vries feature Hercules, who in general was revered as the personification of physical strength and courage. During the Renaissance he became the hero conquering evil.

This drawing might have recorded one of the views of a free-standing sculptural group.

From 1595 to 1602 de Vries worked in Augsburg, where he produced the works for which, apart from the Mercury and Psyche group, he is probably best known: the bronze Mercury Fountain (1599) and the bronze Hercules Fountain (1596-1602), both of which are in Maximilianstrasse in Augsburg. Typologically, the more ornately executed Hercules Fountain represents a development of late 16th-century Florentine fountain designs.

From 1595 to 1602 de Vries worked in Augsburg, where he produced the works for which, apart from the Mercury and Psyche group, he is probably best known: the bronze Mercury Fountain (1599) and the bronze Hercules Fountain (1596-1602), both of which are in Maximilianstrasse in Augsburg. Typologically, the more ornately executed Hercules Fountain represents a development of late 16th-century Florentine fountain designs.

Adriaen de Vries’s first documented independent work is the over life-size bronze group of Mercury and Psyche, a work that owes much in composition and style to similar two-figure groups by Giambologna. This group was executed in Prague for Emperor Rudolf II. It was taken as booty by the Swedish army, then transported to France by Queen Christina of Sweden in 1654 after her abdication.

Adriaen de Vries’s first documented independent work is the over life-size bronze group of Mercury and Psyche, a work that owes much in composition and style to similar two-figure groups by Giambologna. This group was executed in Prague for Emperor Rudolf II. It was taken as booty by the Swedish army, then transported to France by Queen Christina of Sweden in 1654 after her abdication.

Adriaen de Vries’s first documented independent work is the over life-size bronze group of Mercury and Psyche, a work that owes much in composition and style to similar two-figure groups by Giambologna. This group was executed in Prague for Emperor Rudolf II. It was taken as booty by the Swedish army, then transported to France by Queen Christina of Sweden in 1654 after her abdication.

After training in Florence, Adriaen de Vries arrived in Prague in 1593 and cast two groups of Psyche carried off to Olympus by three cupids. He developed the serpentine line and enhanced the effect of immaterial lightness inspired by the Rape of the Sabines of Giambologna. The supporting point, reduced to a minimum, makes possible a sensual lyric circle of entwined bodies.

Two fine bronze allegorical reliefs characteristic of the iconography of Rudolfian court art are the Allegory on the Turkish War in Hungary (1603, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) and Rudolf II introducing the Liberal Arts to Bohemia (1609; Windsor Castle, Royal Collection). Such works reveal stylistic and thematic similarities with works by the Prague court painters; indeed, the Turkish War was modelled after designs by Hans von Aachen.

The present bronze relief depicts the Emperor Rudolf II on horseback, dressed in Roman armour, mounted on a rearing horse and leading a procession of figures emblematic of the Liberal Arts, led by Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, against an idealised architectural backdrop. The emperor’s horse tramples on Ignorance, whilst in the background Hercules weilds his club at a fleeing satyr. Figures of Fame and Bohemia frame the foreground,

By reaching out to touch the hand of the figure of Painting, the Emperor appears to be showing favour to her art above all others. Yet by his skill in accomplishing the relief itself in answer to a commission from the Emperor, de Vries makes his own case for the supremacy of Sculpture.

De Vries’s statue shows the moment before Sebastian, standing on the ground from which a tree grows, is martyred.

This triton, a sea creature in the retinue of the god Neptune, is one of sixteen sculptures that together once formed part of a monumental fountain. The huge complex stood in front of Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark, but in 1659 Swedish soldiers took the statues as war booty to Stockholm. The triton originally perched on the edge of a basin, and water spouted from the shell he is blowing.

The statue is displayed in Frederiksborg Castle, on loan from the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.

This is the most fascinating work of the artist, modeled after the frontispiece of Albrecht D�rer’s Great Passion. It reflects the characteristic style of the period of artistic transition from Mannerism to Baroque.

There is a contrast between Christ’s suffering face and the classical beauty of his athletic body.

Adriaen de Vries was an artist trained under Giambologna in Florence in the early 1580s. He depicts the scene of Vulcan’ forge as an image of labour. The relief was commissioned by Emperor Rudolf II, who appointed the artist as court sculptor to Prague. It bears the inscription: ADRIANVS / FRIES / HAGIENSIS / BATAVVS F/1611 - the Dutchman Adriaen de Vries from The Hague has created it in 1611.