Scipio's magnanimity

Carel van Mander (1548-1606) Dutch artist, poet, historian and art theorist.

By 1568 Karel van Mander was apprenticed to the Ghent artist and poet Lucas de Gere. In 1570 he returned to his hometown of Mölebeke and devoted himself to drama and poetry.

In 1573, Mander undertook a trip to Italy and visited Florence. In Terni, Mander received an order for a fresco on the theme of St. Bartholomew's Night in memory of Gaspare de Coligny, who was killed during it. This fresco from Palazzo Spado has been partially preserved to this day. In Rome, Mander met and became friends with Bartholomeus Spranger.

In 1577 Mander worked in Basel, later he moved to Krems and further to Vienna, where, together with Hans Mont, he worked on the triumphal arch on the occasion of the arrival of Emperor Rudolf II in the city in July 1577.

After visiting Nuremberg, Karl van Mander returned to Möhlebek, but because of the religious persecution of the Mennonites, to which Mander and his family belonged, he was forced to flee to Haarlem, where he lived for 20 years. Here, together with the Dutch artist Cornelis Cornellissen, he founded the Academy of Painting. Frans Hals was a student of Karel van Mander in Haarlem.

Karel van Mander is credited with the famous 1603 painting Ben Johnson and William Shakespeare, in which outstanding playwrights play chess.