(Thuringia 1577–1653 Bayreuth)
Portrait of Albrecht Fredrick, Duke of Prussia (1553–1618), inscribed at upper left: Albrecht Friedrich Marggraff/ Brandenb. zu Preußen Herzog,
oil on panel, 54.5 x 46.5 cm, framed

We are grateful to Helmut Börsch-Supan for identifying the present painting as a work by Bollandt (written communication).

This is the only known picture showing the 2nd Duke of Prussia at a relatively young age. Heinrich Bollandt was one of the most important artists of the Brandenburg-Bayreuther Renaissance. He worked in a style that seems almost archaic and evidently depended on the art of Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Albrecht Frederick was born in 1553 the son of Albrecht of Brandenburg-Ansbach, a former grandmaster and 1st Duke of Prussia, and his wife, Anna Maria of Brunswick. In 1571, following his father’s death in 1586, he succeeded the latter in his government offices. In 1573 he married Maria Eleanor of Jülich-Kleve-Berg. His struggles with the estates, a tantalising experience for the young prince, led to depression that eventually developed into a mental disorder, making him unfit for government. He was put under the guardianship of his son-in-law, Elector John Sigismund of Brandenburg, who received the Duchy of Prussia from King Sigismund III of Poland in 1612, when the duke was still alive. In this way the duchy fell to the Brandenburg line of the House of Hohenzollern.