Portrait of Engelbrecht II, Count of Nassau

The Master of Portraits of Princes's Portrait of Engelbrecht II, Count of Nassau, painted around 1485 and now in the Hollingworth Magniac Collection, depicts one of the most important noblemen of the Burgundian Netherlands — a leading military commander and diplomat who served the Habsburg-Burgundian court under Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian I. This panel is a significant document of Netherlandish aristocratic portrait culture in the transitional years of Habsburg consolidation. This work documents Netherlandish court portraiture at its height.

Oil on panel with the precise Netherlandish technique that made Flemish portraiture the model for all of Europe. The count is shown in three-quarter view with careful attention to individually recognizable features. The court dress is rendered with meticulous observation.