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| Hyacinthe Rigaud Portrait of Herzog Anton Ulrich von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel ca. 1702 oil on canvas Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
Anton Ulrich, Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1633-1714) idolized his French contemporary, King Louis XIV – to the extent that Anton Ulrich introduced French as the official language at his own small German court, and commissioned his likeness [above] from the French monarch's own glorifying portraitist, Hyacinthe Rigaud. Like his idol, Duke Anton Ulrich made a point of patronizing all the arts. In particular, he built up a spectacular collection of paintings – Renaissance and Baroque. Some of the best of what he acquired appears below, evidence of both an exceptional eye and a willingness to spend money competitively. Forty years after the Duke's death his descendants founded one of the first public art museums in Europe, with his collection at its core, and still functioning today in the German town of Braunschweig as the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum.
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| Giorgione Self-portrait as David ca. 1508-1510 oil on canvas Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
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| Lucas Cranach the Elder Adam and Eve 1518 oil on panel Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
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| Rosso Fiorentino Death of Cleopatra ca. 1525-30 oil on panel Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
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| Hans Holbein Portrait of Cyriakus Kale 1533 oil on panel Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
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| Paolo Veronese Baptism of Christ ca. 1548 oil on canvas Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
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| Adam Elsheimer Pietà ca. 1603-1605 oil on copper Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
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| Hans von Aachen The Three Graces ca. 1604 oil on copper Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
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| Orazio Gentileschi Christ crowned with Thorns ca. 1610-15 oil on canvas Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
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| Cornelis de Vos Allegory of Transience ca. 1625-30 oil on canvas Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
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| Jan Lievens Offering of Abraham (Sacrifice of Isaac) ca. 1638-40 oil on canvas Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
The Biblical story of God's demand that Abraham sacrifice his son Isaac on an altar was depicted by painters and engravers hundreds if not thousands of times in the 16th and 17th centuries, most commonly at the moment when a descending angel holds back Abraham's arm with its deadly knife. Less often, Abraham and Isaac would be depicted approaching the scene of sacrifice, with the child-victim Isaac usually bearing on his back a load of wood for the necessary fire. Lievens, on the other hand, here invents a non-traditional image of the story, not stopping the action until after a ram has been substituted for the son, with the knife dropped on the ground, both protagonists expressing a high Baroque intensity of emotion as they reflect on the averted murder.
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| Johannes Vermeer Girl with Wineglass ca. 1658-59 oil on canvas Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
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| Rembrandt Family Portrait ca. 1665-68 oil on canvas Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
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| Johann Heinrich Roos Self-portrait 1682 oil on canvas Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |
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| Johann Heiss Painting Academy ca. 1680-90 oil on canvas Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig |