Stradanus (1523-1605), Court Artist of the Medici

by Manfred Sellink

Book cover: Stradanus (1523-1605), Court Artist of the Medici

Extent: 380 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Art & Art History, Early Modern & Renaissance Studies

Language: English

Paperback (Out of print)

(June 2012)

ISBN: 9782503529967

Price: $89.00

On back order

Jan van der Straet, also called Giovanni Stradano, was a renowned court artist in Florence during the second half of the sixteenth century. His contemporary Raffaello Borghini refers to the artist as the first among the ‘valentuomi forestieri’ in Italy. Prints after his design were spread throughout the whole world. Their popularity and ‘nachleben’, especially of the Venationes ferarum, avium, piscium and the Equile Ioannis austriaci Caroli V imp.f., continues until the present day. However, Stradanus as a person and an artist at the court of Cosimo I Medici in Florence has not, until now, been introduced to a larger public.


Johannes Stradanus (Jan van der Straet, Giovanni Stradano) is one of the most well-known unknown artists in history. Even though the Bruges-born painter (1523-1605) had a more than successful career in the highly competitive city of Florence in the second half of the 16th century, his name long remained a well-hidden secret for specialists only. Many of his works, though, are very well known. Around 1570, Stradanus – who began as designer of tapestries and fresco painter in service of the Medici – started a second career as draughtsman and designer of hundreds of prints. These were engraved, published and distributed all over the then-known world by Antwerp publishers in huge numbers. It are these works – widely collected, copied and used – which secured Stradanus’s place in art history as an inventive and influential artist. Based on the first ever monographic exhibition on Stradanus in the Groeningemuseum in Bruges (2008-2009), this study aims to reassess the importance and versatility of the artist’s oeuvre.

  • By (author) Manfred Sellink