Bellona Leading the Armies of the Emperor against the Turks

Bellona, goddess of war, strides forward, blowing her trumpet to rally troops of the Holy Roman Empire against those of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. She is accompanied by Mercury, caduceus in hand, the barely seen standard bearer carrying the imperial flag, and in the upper corner, Victory. From 1593 to 1606, the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II waged war against the Ottoman Empire. Working in Prague, his court artist Bartholomeus Spranger designed elaborate propagandistic allegories which were translated into print by the bravura engraver Jan Muller who lived in Amsterdam.