- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Harvill Secker (25 May 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0436205211
- ISBN-13: 978-0436205217
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,117,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Robin Waterfield, author of Athens: A History
'The Theatre of the World, is an eye-opening account of an astonishing period of history'
Alex Butterworth, The Observer.
'The story of Rudolf’s life is a compelling one...an admirable and fascinating book.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
This very readable account of the life of the eccentric Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II concentrates on his passions for art, science and magic. It is ultimately a tragic story: Rudolf's strict upbringing left him emotionally repressed and socially awkward; as a member of the Hapsburg dynasty he inherited a depressive personality and in his later years became a recluse. He compromised his youthful ideal of religious tolerance because of pressure fron the Church, and after his death most of his treasured collections were lost in the turmoil of the Thirty Years War.
However, it was his achievement to gather around him, during his reign at Prague Castle,gifted artists and craftsmen, scientists and magicians, and to build up a vast art collection and range of unusual objects in his Kunstkammer or cabinet of curiosities. His collections included clocks and telescopes, thousands of books, rare objects, and exotic animals in his private zoo. It is as a patron of arts and sciences and as a prodigious collector that Rudolf is remembered today and has inspired the author Peter Marshall. The central part of Marshall's book concerns the talented and often controversial individuals that Rudolf suported and encouraged: artists such as the fantastical court painter Arcimboldo whose portrait of the Emperor was composed of a variety of skillfully arranged fruits and vegetables, gifted scientists Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, and a number of alchemists, astrologers and cabbalists, most notably the Elizabethan magus Dr John Dee and his dubious assistant Edward Kelley. The protection of a sympathetic ruler like Rudolf was vital to enquiring minds during this time of religious repression. Marshall is clearly an authority on alchemy and my only criticism of the book would be that in his enthusiasm we occasionally lose sight of the wider picture of Rudolf's reign.
I first remember becoming interested in the Emperor Rudolf II when reading Bruce Chatwin's novel Utz, set in Communist-era Prague. Rudolf appeared there as semi-legendary figure: the collector who owned a unicorn's horn, friend of Rabbi Loew who is said to have created the Golem, the powerful monarch with a regiment of giants and collection of dwarves. Marshall shows us Rudolf's inadequacies while retaining a sense of mystery - did the Emperor really use the black arts against his grasping brother Matthias? The author is impressed by Rudolf's lofty mystical ambition: to be a kind of spiritual world leader, presiding over an era of peace, learning and religious toleration. Sadly, his idealism was not matched by political skill for he lost much of his power to his brother and sought refuge in his fabled collections from the pressures of the world.
This book has clearly been something of a labour of love for it's author, proving that Rudolf's enduring legacy has been the poignant story of his own eccentric life. This is also an attractively produced book from it's colourful jacket to the wide range of illustrations that support the text.
However, it was his achievement to gather around him, during his reign at Prague Castle,gifted artists and craftsmen, scientists and magicians, and to build up a vast art collection and range of unusual objects in his Kunstkammer or cabinet of curiosities. His collections included clocks and telescopes, thousands of books, rare objects, and exotic animals in his private zoo. It is as a patron of arts and sciences and as a prodigious collector that Rudolf is remembered today and has inspired the author Peter Marshall. The central part of Marshall's book concerns the talented and often controversial individuals that Rudolf suported and encouraged: artists such as the fantastical court painter Arcimboldo whose portrait of the Emperor was composed of a variety of skillfully arranged fruits and vegetables, gifted scientists Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, and a number of alchemists, astrologers and cabbalists, most notably the Elizabethan magus Dr John Dee and his dubious assistant Edward Kelley. The protection of a sympathetic ruler like Rudolf was vital to enquiring minds during this time of religious repression. Marshall is clearly an authority on alchemy and my only criticism of the book would be that in his enthusiasm we occasionally lose sight of the wider picture of Rudolf's reign.
I first remember becoming interested in the Emperor Rudolf II when reading Bruce Chatwin's novel Utz, set in Communist-era Prague. Rudolf appeared there as semi-legendary figure: the collector who owned a unicorn's horn, friend of Rabbi Loew who is said to have created the Golem, the powerful monarch with a regiment of giants and collection of dwarves. Marshall shows us Rudolf's inadequacies while retaining a sense of mystery - did the Emperor really use the black arts against his grasping brother Matthias? The author is impressed by Rudolf's lofty mystical ambition: to be a kind of spiritual world leader, presiding over an era of peace, learning and religious toleration. Sadly, his idealism was not matched by political skill for he lost much of his power to his brother and sought refuge in his fabled collections from the pressures of the world.
This book has clearly been something of a labour of love for it's author, proving that Rudolf's enduring legacy has been the poignant story of his own eccentric life. This is also an attractively produced book from it's colourful jacket to the wide range of illustrations that support the text.
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