1721 Copper Engraving Portrait Daniel Brendel Archbishop Elector Mainz Art EUM2

This is an original 1721 black and white copper engraving of "Daniel Broendel von Khomburg Churfürst von Maÿntz." This is a portrait of Daniel Brendel of Homburg, Germany. He was the Archbishop-Elector of Mainz from 1555 to 1582. The Archbishops of Mainz were Arch Chancellors of the Holy Roman Empire and the most important of the seven Electors of the German Emperor. Traditionally, the Archbishops of Mainz were primas germaniae, a title of honor for the most important Catholic Bishop in Germany; they were the substitutes for the Pope north of the Alps. The portrait is surrounded by a wonderful decorative motif featuring the Oldest Electoral Hat, signifying the subject as a Prince-Elector, or simply Elector, a member of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire. These individuals had the function of electing the Roman King or, from the middle of the sixteenth century onwards, directly electing the Holy Roman Emperor. The Oldest Electoral Hat gently rests upon velvet cloth at