Joseph Heintz received his early training from a painter and from his father, an architect-mason. From 1584 to around 1591, Heintz was in Italy, where he joined a circle of German and Netherlandish artists in Rome. He also studied ancient art and copied paintings by Renaissance artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo, and Polidoro da Caravaggio. In 1587 he traveled to Florence and Venice, absorbing
