Cleveland Museum of Art

Bellona Leading the Armies of the Emperor against the Turks

Date

1600

Medium

engraving (printed from two plates)

Culture

Netherlands, early 17th Century

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The central, striding figure, Bellona (the Roman goddess of war), is said to be either the sister or the wife of Mars, god of war. The double-headed eagle of the Habsburgs appears on the flag behind her. Born in Amsterdam, Jan Muller probably learned engraving from his father, Harman Muller, a printmaker and publisher. He traveled to Italy in the 1590s and presumably stopped in Prague along the way. There he made prints based on designs by artists employed at the Habsburg court, including Bartholomeaus Spranger (1546–1611).

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.