Bartholomaeus Spranger

1546 – 1611

Flemish painter from Antwerp who worked in Paris (c.1565) at the same time as Primaticcio and Niccolo dell' Abbate, and in Rome (c.1567-75) as an assistant to Taddeo Zuccaro, and in Vienna, for the Emperor Maximilian II, in 1575. He later worked for Rudolf II in Prague, where he died. He was a typical representative of late Mannerism, using numerous nude figures in unlikely attitudes to fill his compositions, which derive ultimately from Correggio and Parmigianino. The engravings of Goltzius made his works very widely known. In Haarlem, besides Goltzius, he influenced Cornelisz. and van Mander, and in Utrecht Wtewael. He is well represented in the Vienna Gallery, but there are other examples in Antwerp, Brussels, Chicago, Cleveland Ohio, London (NG), Munich, Paris and elsewhere.

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