ABSTRACT
In June 1601 Archduke Albert instructed his envoy in Rome to commission three altarpieces for the chapel of St Helena in the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. Albert's patronage was always carefully timed and banked on reciprocity. Paying tribute to St Helena for her discovery of the Holy Cross inevitably meant honouring the present imperial family and its defence of Catholic doctrine. Albert claimed his rightful share in the possessions of the Austrian branch. Albert and Isabella passed through the Sundgau in August 1599. Yet the sustained nature of Albert's interest in expanding his control into the region of Alsace should not be overlooked. As vassal of the Holy Roman Empire, Albert had to secure the consent of the emperor. Albert's marriage to the infanta, his accession to joint rule in the Netherlands and his ambitions for the imperial succession nourished Rudolf's paranoid obsessions during his extended melancholy.
