Portrait of Johann Schweickhardt von Kronberg, Archbishop of Mainz, in an oval set into an architectural niche flanked by allegories of Faith and Hope, and with putti carrying an Elector's coronet and an Archbishop's mitre above

Johann Schweickhardt von Kronberg was Archbishop Elector of Mainz from 1604 to 1626. The See of Mainz was the most powerful in Germany, and brought with it the position of Archchancellor, most senior of the three spiritual Electors of the Holy Roman Empire. Schweickhardt was therefore Archbishop-Elector during the Defenestration of Prague and the Bohemian Revolt (1618), and was a significant figure in the crises following the death of the Emperor Matthias II (1557-1619) during which Catholic and Protestant factions disputed the succession and precipitated the Thirty Years War.
We are grateful to Dr Norbert Suhr and Mr Gernot Frankhäuser of the Landesmuseum, Mainz for identifing the sitter and the associated print.