Portrait of Emperor Maximilian I von Habsburg (1459-1519), small half length, wearing a fur-lined black mantle with fur hat and gloves, the badge of the order of the Golden Fleece, holding a carnation in his right hand

Two other versions are recorded: in the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede (O. ter Kuile, Catalogus van de schilderijen Rijksmuseum Twenthe Enschede, 1974/76, p.69, no.115, fig.126) and in an Anon. Sale, Koller Zurich, 17-22 November 1986, lot 5048, ill. (M.J. Friedlnder, Early Netherlandish Painting, 1971, VII, p.80, no.161, plate 116).
The composition was probably inspired by Joos van Cleve, see for a studio replica after the lost original the picture in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (M.J. Friedlnder, op. cit., 1972, IXA, p.66, no.71A, plate 90).
Maximilian was the son of Emperor Frederick III and married Mary of Burgundy in 1477 and his second wife Bianca Maria Sforza, daughter of the Duke of Milan, in 1494. He succeeded his father in 1493 and as a means of bringing unity to the Empire, he set up the Reichskammergericht in 1495 and the Reichshofrat in 1497. He was famous for his love of the arts.