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.

Portrait of Crown Princess Anna Maria Vasa, 1596
Portrait of Queen Anna of Poland - ca. 1590