Program notes
Rudolf II, King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria, is known for being a great patron of the arts.
This dramatized portrait of the Bohemian king brings to life the court where he amassed an art collection beyond value and brought together leading writers, artists and humanist scholars of his day, including astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johan Kepler, artist Arcimboldo, and mystics such as Giordano Bruno and John Dee. Rudolf suffered the torments of schizophrenia and was a sick and humiliated man when he died in 1612, but his reign is still considered a golden age in the cultural history of Prague.