Bronz statue: Laocoon (naked, beard) stands with legs apart and with his left hand pushes away from his face a snake's head, maw wide open. With his left he holds the snake's body behind his back. By Laocoon's legs there are his two sons with the snake coiled around their limbs. In Wallenstein's time an elaborate Neptun fountain stood in front of Sala Terrena, which was complemented by four bronze sculptural groups on marble bases which stood between the fountain and Sala Terrena. Laocoon and the Wrestlers were probably standing side by side, the former symbolizing punished impiety and the latter defeated revolt. To the left of the group with Laocoon, in which resistance was condemned, the group with Venus and Adonis could have stood, in which the advantages of forethoughtful submission were celebrated. The group of Venus and Adonis would form a couple with the group of Bacchus and the little Satyr celebrating the blessings of the epoch of peace. The playful fight of Bachus and Satyr would form a contrasting pair with the deadly fight of Wrestlers at the opposite end of the row. All statues were made between 1623 and 1627 in the Prague studio of Adrien de Vries, former Court Sculptor to Emperor Rudolf II., Michalski 2004#, Fučíková, Čepička 2007#, 443-444 (Eliška Fučíková), and In 1625 Adrien de Vries made a statue of Laocoon for the fountain in front of Sala Terrena, but at Wallenstein's request, to which sculptor alludes in his letter of February 1626, it was replaced by Neptune. Since its discovery in 1506 the famous ancient statue had been identified with that which was mentioned by Pliny, who wrote that it decorated the palace of the emperor Titus (Natural History 36, 37). This explicit imperial connection was as important as the theme of the statue. Laocoon was the Trojan priest who revolted against the gods' decision that his city must be captured by Greeks and he was immediately cruelly punished. Laocoon had to die because Troy had to be burned to allow Aeneas to arrive to Italy, this sequence of events later leading to the birth of Rome and its empire. Laocoon, as a token of God's plan, thus legitimised the imperial rule on earth. When the theme of Laocoon appears in 16th century art, it is always in a negative context, as an example of justly punished transgression. Sergiusz Michalski (Michalski 2004) was the first who argued that Adrian de Vries' Laocoon alluded to the defeat of the Bohemian estates in the Battle of White Mountain in 1620.
Bronz statue: Adonis (naked) strides with a catched hind on his shoulders, by his legs a dog. He bends down to Venus. Naked Venus sits on a tree stump, she raises her right hand to Adonis, in her left she holds a wreath. In Wallenstein's time an elaborate Neptun fountain stood in front of Sala Terrena, which was complemented by four bronze sculptural groups on marble bases which stood between the fountain and Sala Terrena. Laocoon and the Wrestlers were probably standing side by side, the former symbolizing punished impiety and the latter defeated revolt. To the left of the group with Laocoon, in which resistance was condemned, the group with Venus and Adonis could have stood, in which the advantages of forethoughtful submission were celebrated. The group of Venus and Adonis would form a couple with the group of Bacchus and the little Satyr celebrating the blessings of the epoch of peace. The playful fight of Bachus and Satyr would form a contrasting pair with the deadly fight of Wrestlers at the opposite end of the row., Fučíková, Čepička 2007#, 443-444 (Eliška Fučíková), and Over a hundred-year period around 1600, Venus and Adonis was a very fashionable theme in painting and we often find it in the Prague Court art of Rudolf II. Two moments were most often illustrated from the myth, Venus trying to stop Adonis departing for the fateful boar hunt and Venus lamenting his death. The representation of Adonis' departure was noticeably stereotyped; we see again and again a sitting Venus trying to embrace Adonis who walks away, in this way Adrian de Vries represented the couple in 1621 (Bückenburg, today Berlin). The Prague statue seemingly conforms to this type, because Venus is also represented on the ground and she raises her hands towards the walking Adonis. But Adonis is not departing, he is returning from a successful hunt with game over his shoulder. Adonis' triumphal return was highlighted by the wreath in Venus' raised hand, which occupies a central position in the group. In Wallenstein's time the standard allegorical reading of the Adonis myth was centred on the hero's refusal of divine counsel, his departure from Venus and its tragic consequence (Mander 1602, 88v). This makes Adonis a perfect counterpart to Laocoon, who also did not obey and had to pay for it. But Prague's Adonis is safely returning from a hunt with a stag on his shoulders and Venus greets him with a wreath, because he did exactly what he had advised him. In depictions of Adonis in 16th and 17th century we do not find other examples of Venus with a wreath or the motif of hero's return from hunt with a small animal on his shoulders. It seems as if Adriaen de Vries reversed the traditional iconographical type, but retained its political message. The tamed Adonis obeys his divine master and is justly rewarded, or, when we translate it into contemporary political terminology, the obstinate rebel is turned into a dutiful subject. It is possible to imagine the statues of Laocoon and the Wrestlers standing side by side in the Wallenstein garden, the former symbolizing punished impiety and the latter defeated revolt. Next to the group with Laocoon, in which resistance was condemned, the group with Venus and Adonis could have stood, in which the advantages of forethoughtful submission were celebrated, in Czech lands very topical theme after the defeat of Czech estates in 1620.
Měšťanský dům s renesanční dvorní arkádou, fasáda se zbytky sgrafitové výzdoby - nahá ženská postava s váhami, patrně alegorie Spravedlnosti. and Vlček 1996#, 197.
Olej na plátně (213 x 142 cm): Hojnost (Abundantia) s rohem hojnosti, Spravedlnost (Justitia) s mečem a Mír (Pax) s holubicí s olivovou ratolestí na rameni. Všechny tři ženy mají bohaté šaty, odhalená ňadra a sedí vedle sebe a Mír objímá Spravedlnost, která má ruku na rameni Hojnosti, ta má ruku položenou na jejím koleně. Hojnost jakožto plodivá síla země sedí nejníž. Nalevo ženský genius (křídla) korunuje Hojnost věncem z obilí a Spravedlnost květinovým věncem. Napravo Vědění (Scientia) s knihou v ruce položenou na rameni Spravedlnosti, obrací se dozadu pravicí odstrkuje Válku (brnění, kopí), za Válkou je vidět Turka (turban). Putto korunuje vavřínovým věncem Vědění a Mír olivovým věncem. Nalevo nahoře putto odhrnuje závěs, uprostřed nahoře orel drží v pařátech zlaté okovy, od nichž jdou řetězy k Spravedlnosti a Vědění. Orel letí k nebesům, kde je na ozářeném oblaku emblém Rudolfa II., vavřínový věnec se žezlem a palmovou ratolestí. Dole, u nohou Spravedlnosti a Míru je znak habsburského arcivévodství (bílo, červeno, bílé pruhy) s vévodskou korunou., Fučíková 1997#, I/54, and Zjednodušenou verzi alegorie najdeme na malířově obraze z doby okolo roku 1600 (Osnabrück, Ravesteyn, Alegorie Spravedlnosti a míru). Koruna protknutá dvěma palmovými listy byla emblémem císaře Ferdinanda I. (Typotius 1601-1603, 2, tab. 106) , emblém doprovázelo moto LEGITIME CERTANTIBUS: koruna patří tomu, kdo bojuje se ctí. Žezla a palmové listy v koruně byly emblémem císaře Rudolfa II. (viz: Praha, Strahov, Ravesteyn, Alegorie vlády Rudolfa II.). První zmínka o Rudolfově žezlu a palmovém listu symbolizujími moc v míru a válce, najdeme v emblematickém traktátu, který císaři Rudolfovi II. věnoval profesor pražské university Matouš Philomates (Philomates 1580, kap. 15). Žezlo s palmovým listem v koruně se objevuje jako emblém Cesare I. Gonzagy (1530-1575) v Typotiově katalogu emblémů evropských vladařů vydaném v Praze (Typotius 1601-1603, tab. 99, první v horní řadě), s heslem HAEC EST SOLA NOSTRA GLORIA.
L. Konečný, AT:Tepaná miska ze stříbrného plechu byla do 20. století ve sbírkách Louvre, dnes již pouze několik odlitků (galvanoplastiky), dva vlastní UPM v Praze. Autorem byl nizozemský zlatník Paulus van Vianen, od roku 1603 pobýval v Praze, na dvoře Rudolfa II. Jako předlohu pro reliéf dna Vianen použil rytinu E. Sadelera podle Aachenova obrazu (1595 -96, kompozičně téměř totožná je kresba v Brně, AT, č.k.75). Minerva uvádí personifikované Malířství mezi personifikace sedmi Svobodných umění, což je motivováno slovy císařského dekretu z 27.4.1595, kde v navázání na některé antické autory (Plinius, Filostratos) a v souladu s Rudolfovou zálibou ve výtvarném umění malířům dovoluje:"aby...za řemeslo pokládáni nebyli..., nýbrž umění malířského...slouli." and Antické tradice, s. 98, č.k. 85
Italský učenec, umělec a architekt Jacopo Strada (1507-1588) byl od roku 1556 v císařských službách. Vynikl také jako numismatik (Strada 1553 a Strada 1559) a jeho syn Ottavio v této tradici pokračoval (Strada 1615), ve všech těchto dílech je řada mincí antických císařů zakončena panujícím habsburským císařem., Fučíková 1997#, II/264, and Jacopo Strada nashromáždil velkou sbírku antických mincí a napdal o nich několik učených pojednání. Tato publikace (De Vitis Imperatorum et Caesarum Romanorum, tam occidentalium quam orientalium Francofurti ad Moenum: Joannes Bringerus, 1615) doplněna o krátké životopisy římských císařů a jejich manželek, potomků, jsou doprovázeny reprodukcemi averzů a reverzů příslušných mincí. Kniha obsahuje 533 takovýchto vyobrazení (též Rudolf II., s. 511-512, č. 529)
Pozlacený olověný reliéf: skupina personifikací svobodných umění., Seibt 1985#,, and Reliéf podle skupiny s personifikacemi svobodných umění na Sadelerově rytině podle návrhu Hanse von Aachen (Wien, Albertina, Sadeler, Minerva uvádí malířství mezi svobodná umění). Na rozdíl od grafiky je skupina zasazena do přírodního rámce.