Rudolf II of Habsburg was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1576 to 1612. Rudolf was also a great patron of the arts and sciences and one of the European rulers who had the greatest enthusiasm for the study of nature. His court was animated by the presence of scholars and artists from all over Europe, who worked closely with each other within the castle walls, making Prague a true laboratory of experimentation, in a climate of intellectual and religious tolerance. Artists actively participated in the early stages of empiricism, not only through the creation of scientific measurement instruments that were as aesthetic as they were innovative, but also through their drawings of plants and animals. A crossroads between art and science where a common visual curiosity between scholars and artists contributed to the renewal of artistic creation in Prague by encouraging new practices such as drawing in the open air.
