Răpirea Proserpinei

1574–1587

Copyist in Venice

He joins the community of Netherlandish and German artists, printmakers and art dealers and works as a copyist in the workshop of Gaspar Rem, who arranges an apprenticeship for him with an artist known as Morett (Moretto): he copies famous works in Venice's churches, and many of the copies go to the northern European market. Pieter Isaacsz was his pupil in Italy.

1587

Return to Germany

After long years in Italy he returns to his homeland, first to Augsburg, where he paints portraits for the wealthy Fugger family; he also works in Munich, where he is commissioned to paint two altarpieces for the church of St Michael (other accounts date his return to about 1588).

1589

Chooses Munich as his residence

After visiting his native Cologne and making another trip to Venice, he chooses Munich as his residence and paints several works for Duke William V of Bavaria. Under the influence of the strictly Catholic court he develops an iconography strongly shaped by Counter-Reformation ideas.

1590

Print series “Salus generis humani”

Aegidius Sadeler, a printmaker at the Prague court, engraves 13 plates with scenes from the Life of Christ after designs by von Aachen; the emblematic borders derive from Joris Hoefnagel's missal illuminations made for Archduke Ferdinand II. Prints like these spread the artist's fame across Europe.