1676 EMPEROR VITELLIUS G.C. Eimmart 1638-1705 after Sandrart folio engraving

Fine Folio Portrait of Vitellius, Emperor of the Roman Empire

G.C. Eimmart 1638-1705, attributed to:

After Joh. Sandrart

Engraving

37.5 x 24.2 cm

Published 1679.

In very good overall condition.

Georg Christoph Eimmart, the younger, a German draughtsman and engraver, was born at Ratisbon. He was instructed by his father, Georg Christoph Eimmart the Elder, who was also an engraver, a painter of portraits, landscapes, still-life, and historical subjects. He studied at the University of Jena from 1654-1658.

Sometimes referred to as the “German Vasari,” Joachim von Sandrart, born in Frankfurt, trained first as a printmaker, notably in Nuremberg, and in Prague with Aegidius Sadeler. After a long and successful career in the foremost artistic circles in England, Italy, and the Netherlands, he returned to Germany and painted for Emperor Ferdinand III, for which he was ennobled in 1673. 

Aulus Vitelliu 24 September 15 – 20 December 69) was Roman emperor for eight months, from 19 April to 20 December AD 69. Vitellius was proclaimed emperor following the quick succession of the previous emperors Galba and Otho, in a year of civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors. Vitellius was the first to add the honorific cognomen Germanicus to his name instead of Caesar upon his accession. Like his direct predecessor, Otho, Vitellius attempted to rally public support to his cause by honoring and imitating Nero who remained widely popular in the empire.