Bellona Leading the Armies of the Empire against the Turks,

1600

This tour de force of engraving technique—a reproductive print modeled on a work by the painter Bartholomeus Spranger—was the artist’s attempt to compete with Hendrick Goltzius, the leading master in the field of printmaking in Antwerp. The dedication to Archduke Matthias of Austria, former governor of the Netherlands, inscribed below the image, was a means of ingratiating Muller to the younger brother of the Holy Roman Emperor and current governor of Austria. Spranger’s design places Bellona, the ancient Roman goddess of war, close to the viewer; she urges on the forces of the Holy Roman Empire, whose imperial flag billows behind her. Mercury, below the flag, with winged cap and caduceus, and, Victory, above, holding a laurel wreath, accompany the soldiers. The figure of Bellona, posing on one tiptoe, is based on a Mannerist sculptural model, Giambologna’s celebrated bronze Mercury.