The research activities of the Studia Rudolphina Centre of Institute of Art of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (IAH CAS) focus on the personality of Emperor Rudolf II as a collector and patron, as well as on the art and culture associated with him. In particular, the imperial collections and court artists are the focus of attention. The Centre's objective is to facilitate research in this field among the academic community and to provide resources for Czech and international students and researchers. The findings of the international research programme are disseminated on an annual basis in the bulletin Studia Rudolphina. We facilitate the presentation of Rudolphine research in the Collegium Historiae Artium lecture series of IAH CAS. Doctoral students and researchers at all levels of professional experience are eligible to apply for the Josef Dobrovsky Fellowship, which provides funding for a stay of 15-30 days. Applications must be submitted by the end of October each year. The Centre also offers the Kateřina Dušková Scholarship, which provides short-term stay for students and emerging scholars in Rudolphine art. Those interested in scholarships may contact Sylva Dobalova at dobalova@udu.cas.cz.
The Centre was established in 2000, but its research programme on Rudolphine art built upon the foundations laid by the IAH CAS in the 1960s. The first international success of the Institute was the establishment of a permanent exhibition of paintings from the collection of Prague Castle, accompanied by an international conference (1965). The members of the Centre contributed to the organisation of other significant exhibitions on the subject (1988 Essen and 1997 Prague) and facilitated a number of international conferences. To illustrate, the exhibition Hans von Aachen (1552-1615): Painter at the European Courts (Aachen, Prague and Vienna, 2010) and the international conference was organised, the outcome of which was the collection Hans von Aachen in Context (Prague, 2012). Furthermore, the Center's activities encompass the mapping of the cultural links of the monarchical courts in Central Europe. To date, two conferences and special issues have been devoted to this topic: Munich – Prag um 1600 (2007) and Dresden – Prag um 1600 (2017). Additionally, the significance of Rudolf II for the advancement of modern sciences has been the subject of considerable scrutiny. This is exemplified by publications such as Alchemy and Rudolf II (2011 Czech version, 2017 English) and the recent Alchemical Laboratory in pictorial and textual sources (Czech and English versions 2023). The members of the Centre have a particular interest in the immediate predecessors of Emperor Rudolf II, with a focus on Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol. The exhibition dedicated to him was held in 2017-2018 in Innsbruck and Prague in cooperation with the IAH CAS, Schloss Ambras Innsbruck and the National Gallery Prague. The research into the cultural activities of the Archduke was supported by a number of grants, which resulted in the publication of several books. These include Knihovna arcivévody Ferdinanda Tyrolského (2015), a monograph on the Summer Palace Star (in Czech 2014, in English 2017), and Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria: The Second-Born Son in Renaissance Europe (Vienna, 2021).
The team of the Studia Rudolphina Centre is currently engaged in the analysis of the findings yielded by the Czech Science Foundation grant No. 20-15927S (2020-2022) Art for Display: The Painting Collection of Emperor Rudolf II within the Context of Collecting Practices ca 1600. The project is centred on the analysis and interpretation of the inventories that document the Emperor's collection, as well as the question of the placement of the paintings within the premises of Prague Castle. A book publication and a database of the inventory items of the Emperor's Gallery are forthcoming.
