Liberation of Andromeda, release of the winds by Aeolus and Aeneas

Dated to around 1600 and held in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, this remarkable painting on alabaster by Hans von Aachen combines three mythological scenes — the Liberation of Andromeda, the Release of the Winds by Aeolus, and an episode featuring Aeneas. Alabaster as a painting support was an exceptional choice associated with the Rudolfine court's appetite for unusual luxury materials. Its semi-translucent quality gives painted flesh a luminosity that even the finest copper cannot match, and the creamy white ground creates a distinctive tonal base for thin, transparent paint layers. The complex multi-narrative program — weaving together the Ovidian Andromeda, the Virgilian Aeolus, and the Aeneid's Trojan hero — reflects the dense literary culture of Rudolf II's court, where mythological erudition was as valued as visual skill.

Alabaster support is unique among von Aachen's known works and represents the most rarefied end of Rudolfine material experimentation. The stone's natural luminosity means flesh tones glow from within rather than being surface effects of paint alone. Von Aachen works with the material's translucency, using thin, transparent paint layers that preserve and amplify it. Multiple narrative scenes demand careful compositional zoning within a single field.