Nero Claudius Caesar

Date1660-1729

Artist/Maker Aegidius Sadeler

Maker Tiziano Vecelli Titian

OriginEurope, Czech Republic, Prague

MediumBlack and white line engraving

DimensionsOH: 17" x OW: 12 1/4"; plate: H: 13 7/8" x W: 9 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1930-422

DescriptionUpper margin reads: "NERO CLAVDIVS CAESAR."
Lower margin reads: "VI. / Caesarea Nero progeniem strips ultima claudens / Nequitices cumuhum fecit, et ille modum. / Igne solum patrium ferroque abolere parentem, / Et genus omne suum, se quoque nixus erat. / Segnitie cuicta potuit se perdere tandem, / Et matrem, quibus et vita adimenda fuit: / At patrium hand potiut, matremque ex ignibus eius / Hic nouus Æneas sustulit ante suam. / Ægidius Sadeler S.C.M. Sculp / Titianus Inuentor"
Label TextBorn in 1570, Ægidius Sadeler II (1570-1629) had a prosperous career as an engraver. Trained by his uncle, Jan Sadeler, Ægidius Sadeler went on to work under three different Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperors. Sadeler dedicated this set of Caesar portraits, based off of Titian’s lost portraits, to Ferdinand II, who reigned from 1619-1637. In a letter dating to 1622, Sadeler remarks that all work in his shop had stopped except for two larger projects which were “in progress.” One of the two projects is listed as Twenty Four Roman Emperors and Empresses.

There appear to be four different states of these prints. This particular set appears to be the third state, dating from 1660-1729. While the second state has the addition of Marcus Sadeler’s name, Ægidius’s nephew who was an active publisher until 1660, in the lower margin, the fourth state lacks his name. Instead, a French inscription was added which states the name of a French engraver, François Chéreau (1680-1729), with the addition of the letters ‘VE’ or an abbreviation for the word ‘widow’ in French, or veuve.

These prints were popular in the period in which Ægidius lived as well as many years after. A set of 11 Caesar prints appear in a 1771 inventory of the Raleigh Tavern.