1721 Copper Engraving Portrait Gebhard Truchsess Von Waldburg Archbishop EUM2

This is an original 1721 black and white copper engraving of "Gebhard Trucksass Churfürst von Cölln." This is a portrait of Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, an Archbishop-Elector of Cologne. He won a close election in the Cathedral chapter of Cologne over Ernst of Bavaria. Following his election, he fell in love with, and later married, Agnes von Mansfeld-Eisleben, a Protestant Canoness at the Abbey of Gerresheim. Gebhard's conversion to Calvinism and announcement of religious parity in the Electorate triggered a war. In 1583, Gebhard began amassing troops pursued converting his subjects to Protestantism. Pope Gregory XIII excommunicated him from the Roman Catholic church in April of that same year, and the unsuccessful candidate of 1577, Ernest, who was also bishop of Liège, Freising and Hildesheim, was chosen as the new Elector.Gebhard's eventual defeat by the Catholics in 1589 marks a critical moment in the history of the Reformation and delivered a serious blow to Protestantism in northern Germany.

The Electorate of Cologne was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. It consisted of the temporal possessions of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne, and was ruled by the Archbishop in his function as Prince-Elector of the Empire. The capitals of the electorate were Cologne (until 1288) and then Bonn. It was secularized in 1803 during the German Mediatisation. The portrait is surrounded by a wonderful decorative motif featuring the Oldest Electoral Hat, signifying the subject as a Prince-Elector, or simply Elector, a member of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire. These individuals had the function of electing the Roman King or, from the middle of the sixteenth century onwards, directly electing the Holy Roman Emperor. The Oldest Electoral Hat gently rests upon velvet cloth at the top of the print, with the cloth cascading down the sides of the portrait. At the base of the frame is a decorative motto incorporating a botanical design.

CONDITION

This 290+ year old Item is rated Near Mint / Very Fine+. Light foxing - top margin. No creases. No natural defects.No surface rub.No tears. No water damage. Please note: There is a plate impression bordering the image in this print.

• Product Type: Original Copper Engraving; Black / White
• Grade: Near Mint / Very Fine+
• Dimensions: Approximately 8.5 x 13.5 inches; 22 x 34 cm
• Authentication: Serial-Numbered Certificate of Authenticity w/ Full Provenance
• Protection: Packaged in a custom archival sleeve with an acid-free black board (great for display, gift-giving, and preservation)

Period Paper is pleased to offer an extremely rare and impressive early eighteenth century collection of biographies and portrait engravings and etchings, produced in Leipzig, Germany in 1721 and 1722. Included are notable monarchs, rulers, religious figures, and members of notable Houses throughout Europe, including several genealogical charts of dynastic lines, spanning the sixteenth to early eighteenth centuries. The collection is comprised of exquisitely engraved and etched copper portrait plates framed by varying decorative motifs, all engraved by Johann Friedrich Rosbach. Many of the portraits include separate biographical pieces ranging in length from a single paragraph to several pages for more notable European monarchs and emperors. If present, the accompanying text is in German and is composed of beautiful woodcut text, with most pages containing elegantly etched drop cap initials, head-and tail-pieces and vignettes. The superb, folio-sized stock upon which the collection is engraved and etched employed the latest advances in eighteenth century paper making and highlights the era's predilection for strong, lightly sized paper with a fine structure and smooth surface. The paper's characteristics are thus similar to Japanese Gampi, and the result is well-preserved and crisp images that exceptionally capture Rosbach's fluid and sharp line work. This collection represents a unique opportunity to collect a valuable part of European history stunningly composed and illustrated.

Keywords specific to this image: Art, Costume, Thirty Years' War, Holy Roman Empire, Catholic Counter-Reformation, Catholic Reformation, Catholic Revival, Catholic Church, Neck Ruff, European Nobility, European Royalty, European History, Germany

EUM2C21