2-723-701 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Bellona Leading the Armies of the Emperor against the Turks, 1600. 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 Hapsburgs 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 Hapsburg court, including Bartholomeaus Spranger (1546-1611).