Maximilian I. "the last knight"
1459 - 1519

1477 Burgundian Duke
1486 King of the Germans
1508 Holy Roman Emperor

This portrait can be considered as historical one.
I painted him in his youth, with his finest suit of gothic armor, a traditional Burgundian hat and the chain of the golden fleece order in front of the "Nordkette" - mountains in Innsbruck.

Maximilian I of Habsburg was an Emperor of Austria and is the most important historical figure of Tyrol and one of the most popular ones as well.
He is considered as binding element between high medieval times and Renaissance for Austria.
Under his rule, Tyrol, the federal state of Austria I am living in had an economical blooming period.
He usually resided in Vienna or in Innsbruck and as someone who spent a lot of money on military development, art and architecture, he also was very interested in the silver mines of Schwaz (the mining rights got pledged to the Fuggers) and brought due to his politics an economical blooming period to Tyrol.
Up to this day most of the late-gothic art and architecture we have in Tyrol - and there is a lot - can be traced back to him.

His descriptive name "the last knight" comes from his idealization and stylization of the knightly medieval ideals.
He owned a few of the most impressive suits of armors, jousted and battled in tournaments, wrote three autobiographical books with a strong focus on knightly themes.
Regarding technology he introduced lansquenets, field-artillery and industrialized the fluted Austrian style of armor - which is still named "Maximilian Armor" up to this day.