Further reading: Svetlana Alper, The Making of
Rubens (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995);
Kristin Lohse Belkin, Rubens (London: Phaidon, 1998);
Kerry Downes, Rubens (New York: Hippocrene, 1981;
repr. 2004).
Rucellai family Wealthy Tuscan merchants who, from
the late 13th century onward, lived in Florence studying
and cultivating the arts. ALBERTIdesigned the Palazzo
Rucellai for Giovanni (1403–81), whose son, Bernardo
(1448–1514), designed the Rucellai Gardens; Bernardo
was a humanist historian who was an early user of the
phrase “the balance of power” in his history of Charles
VIII’s invasion of 1494–95. Giovanni’s grandson, also
Giovanni (1475–1525), was a didactic poet, the author of
Le Api (1539), based on Virgil’s fourth Georgic, and
Rosamunda (1525), a classical tragedy in verse based on an
incident in Lombard history. Cosimo, Bernardo’s
grandson, presided over gatherings of intellectuals in the
Rucellai Gardens (see ORTI ORICELLARI).
Rudolf II (1552–1612) Holy Roman Emperor, king of
Bohemia and Hungary, archduke of Austria (1576–1612)
Rudolf was the son of Emperor Maximilian II and Mary,
daughter of Emperor CHARLES V. A scholar who suffered
from poor health, he spent many years in semi-seclusion
in Prague. He dabbled in chemistry, medicine, astronomy,
alchemy, and astrology and, with the help of his court an-
tiquary Jacopo STRADA, acquired an impressive collection
of rare works of art. He was a patron of ARCIMBOLDO, Roe-
lant SAVERY, and Batholomäus SPRANGER, and, in the sci-
entific realm, of Tycho BRAHEand Johannes KEPLER. His
Hofkapelle in Prague employed around 60 singers and in-
strumentalists, with the prolific and eminent Netherlan-
dish composer Philippe de MONTEas director of music;
other significant composers patronized by Rudolf were the
Spaniard Mattheo FLECHA, the Slav Jacob HANDL, and the
Czech Krystof Harant of Polzice (1564–1621). Perhaps
because he was educated in Spain, Rudolf was an uncom-
promising Catholic, determined to eradicate Protes-
tantism in his domains. He reversed the tolerant religious
policies of his father and supported the Jesuits and the
other religious orders in their efforts to further the
COUNTER-REFORMATION.
By the beginning of the 17th century Rudolf was suf-
fering from fits of morbid depression which made him
incapable of governing effectively. His attacks on Protes-
tantism in Austria led to the collapse of government and
the division of the country into warring religious leagues,
and similar campaigns against political and religious lib-
erties in Hungary occasioned a revolt (1604–05) that only
terminated when the Hapsburg archdukes insisted that
Rudolf entrust the government of Hungary to his brother,
Matthias. Under similar circumstances he was forced in
1608 to hand over the government of Austria and Moravia
to Matthias. Bohemia, where Protestantism was very well
established, rebelled, and in 1611 Rudolf had to abdicate
and to accept the election of Matthias by the Bohemian es-
tates as king of Bohemia.
Further reading: R. J. W. Evans, Rudolf II and His
World: A Study in Intellectual History 1576–1612 (Oxford,
U.K.: Clarendon Press, 1973; new ed. Thames & Hudson,
1997); Angelo Maria Ripellino, Magic Prague, transl.
David Newton Marinelli (London: Macmillan, 1994).Rudolfine Tables See ASTRONOMY; BRAHE, TYCHO; KE-
PLER, JOHANNESRueda, Lope de (c. 1510–1565) Spanish actor and
playwright
The first Spanish professional actor about whom anything44220 0 RRuucceellllaaii ffaammiillyyRudolf II Wenzel Maler’s wax relief (1606) of the emperor
with his hound.
V & A Picture Library