Martin Kober

Martin Kober (also Chober, Cober, Coeber, Khober, Koeber, Koebner; Polish: Marcin Kober; c. 1550 – before 1598) was a portrait painter and court painter to different Central European monarchs, including Stephen Báthory, Rudolf II, Anna Jagiellon and Sigismund III Vasa.

Trained as a guild painter, he traveled through Germany for three years as a wandering journeyman to gain experience in different workshops.

He was appointed the royal servitor and at the court he met his wife Dorothea, also a painter specializing in painting crests.

[1] He also traveled to Graz in 1595 to paint portraits of the family of Archduke Charles II for Queen Anne of Austria.

[2] Kober was the first painter active in the Commonwealth specializing in the official portraiture and is therefore considered as the precursor of this genre in Poland.