St Wenceslas and St Vitus

The affiliation of the panels (cf. NGP, inv. no. O 11159) with the circle of artists from the Rudolfine Era was described in the Waldstein Collection inventories which repeatedly attributed them to Hans von Aachen. Eliška Fučíková ascribed them to Spranger, pointing out that they could not have been painted without the previous knowledge of Dürer - she surmises that it might have been Dürer’s woodcut representing Austrian patron saints and remotely also Dürer’s Apostles in Munich (Alte Pinakothek) which have inspired them. Eliška Fučíková believes that the panels were produced after 1585 when Dürer’s models were accessible at the Prague court. It was Hans Hofmann who was instrumental in making them accessible; first, he painted in Dürer’s style and secondly, he sought after Dürer’s (and Dürer-inspired) works for Rudolf II.