Martin Kober (also ''Chober, Cober, Coeber, Khober, Koeber, Koebner''; ; – before 1598) was a portrait painter and court painter to different

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

an monarchs, including

Stephen Báthory Stephen Báthory (; ; ; 27 September 1533 – 12 December 1586) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1576–1586) as well as Prince of Transylvania, earlier Voivode of Transylvania (1571–1576). The son of Stephen VIII Báthory ...

Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the H ...

Anna Jagiellon Anna Jagiellon (, ; 18 October 1523 – 9 September 1596) was King of Poland, Queen of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Grand Duchess of Lithuania from 1575 to 1587. Daughter of Polish King and Lithuanian Grand Duke Sigismund I the Ol ...

and

Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa (, ; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Re ...

. He was active mainly in the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

Life

Marcin Kober a Polish artist, was born in

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

Poland. Trained as a

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

painter, he traveled through Germany for three years as a wandering

journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

to gain experience in different workshops. In 1583 he came to the

from

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

and become court painter of King Stephen Báthory and Queen Anna Jagiellon. He was appointed the royal ''servitor'' and at the court he met his wife Dorothea, also a painter specializing in painting crests. After the King's death he returned to Wrocław, from where he joined the Imperial court of Rudolf II in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

as a portrait painter, due to the conflict with other guild painters in the city. The emperor released him from the guild laws in 1587. After his return to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in 1590 he was employed by King Sigismund III Vasa and worked in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

and

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. He also traveled to

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

in 1595 to paint portraits of the family of Archduke Charles II for Queen

Anne of Austria Anne of Austria (; ; born Ana María Mauricia; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was Queen of France from 1615 to 1643 by marriage to King Louis XIII. She was also Queen of Navarre until the kingdom's annexation into the French crown ...

. Kober died in Kraków or Warsaw.

Work

Until the times of Martin Kober the portraiture in Poland was treated as not very important branch of painting by local artists. Kober was the first painter active in the Commonwealth specializing in the official portraiture and is therefore considered as the precursor of this genre in Poland. His portraits of the royal family influenced the royal iconography for the next hundred years and found its source in Spanish portraiture through artistic community in Prague. His earlier works at the court of Stephen Báthory affected development of the Polish '' Sarmatian portrait''. The artist works can be found in different museums across Europe including Orava Gallery in

Dolný Kubín Dolný Kubín (; also known by #Names, other names) is a town in northern Slovakia in the Žilina Region. It is the historical capital and the largest settlement of the Orava (region), Orava region. Names The name is derived from the archaic Slov ...

(''Portrait of Daniel Kubínyiho''),

Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of th ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

(''Portrait of Stephen Báthory''),

Convent of Las Descalzas Reales The Convent of Las Descalzas Reales () is a royal monastery situated in Madrid, Spain, administered by the Patrimonio Nacional. History The ''Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales'', literally the "Monastery of the Royal Discalced", resides in ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

(portraits of royal children),

Bavarian State Picture Collection The Bavarian State Painting Collections (), based in Munich, Germany, oversees artwork held by the Free State of Bavaria. It was established in 1799 as ''Centralgemäldegaleriedirektion''. Artwork includes paintings, sculptures, photographs, video ...

(portraits of royal children),

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien ( "Vienna Museum of art history, Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, i ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

(''Portrait of Sigismund III Vasa'') and in Poland with several versions of portrait of widowed Anna Jagiellon, presumably an evidence of well organized workshop. The effigy, with

Wawel Castle The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established o ...

version considered as original, was painted flat. It is characterized by a strong realism and decorativeness. Versions in the

National Museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...

and in the

Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

differ is details with absence or addition of certain parts.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kober, Marcin 1550s births 1598 deaths 16th-century German painters German male painters 16th-century Polish painters Polish male painters Court painters of Polish kings Expatriates in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Painters from Wrocław Polish Mannerist painters People from the Habsburg monarchy