He was court painter to Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria for whom he realised a series of contemporary and historical portraits of members of the imperial House of Habsburg. Many of these portraits are in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.[3][4] Boys was also an important witness and illustrator of key events in the life of the Habsburgs: he made the engravings for a book describing celebrations on the occasion of the grant of the Order of the Golden Fleece to leading Imperial court members and created an almost life-size depiction of a wedding banquet of a powerful aristocratic family in the service of the Imperial family.[4][5][6]
Work[edit]
Portrait painter[edit]
Anton Boys' role as a court painter appears to have been to paint portraits of historical and living members of branches of the imperial family and their consorts. Many of these miniature portraits are now in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.[2] Anton Boys first worked on a series of Ahnenbilder (portraits of ancestors) for Count Jakob Hannibal I. His portraits were made after older originals, which explains the rather archaic style of these works. He later made a similar series of ancestor portraits for Archduke Ferdinand II.[7]
The Ordentliche Beschreibung[edit]
Boys is believed to have been the author of the engravings illustrating a book that appeared in 1587 in Dillingen an der Donau.[5] The full title of the book is Ordentliche Beschreibung mit was stattlichen Ceremonien und Zierlichheiten die Röm. Kay. May. unser aller gnedigster Herr sampt etlich andlern Erzherzogen, Fürsten und Herrn, den Orden dess Guldin Flüss in disem 85. Jahr zu Prag und Landshüt empfangen und angenommen: neben vorgehender Summarischer Außführung vnd Erinnerung, was von disem Orden, auch dessen vrsprung vnd bedeutung fürnemlich züwissen. Dabey dann auch ettliche zu diser Beschreibung dienstliche fine Figuren zu sehen ('Orderly description of the stately ceremonies and elegant events with which the Holy Roman Emperor, our most gracious Lord, together with several other Archdukes, Princes and Noblemen, received and accepted the Order of the Golden Fleece, in the course of this 85th year, at Prague and Landshut, (and) in addition to the foregoing explanation and remembrance, what should be mainly known about the origins and meaning of this Order. And also many fine figures that are useful for this description can be seen').[10]
