Martin Kober

Martin Kober
Born	c. 1550 Wrocław
Died	before 1598 Kraków or Warsaw
Nationality	Polish
Known for	Portrait painting
Movement	Mannerism
Patron(s)	Stephen Báthory, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, Anna Jagiellon, Sigismund III Vasa

Martin Kober (also Chober, Cober, Coeber, Khober, Koeber, Koebner, Polish: Marcin Kober) (ca. 1550 – before 1598) was a portrait painter and court painter to different Central European monarchs - King Stephen Báthory, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, Queen Anna Jagiellon and King Sigismund III Vasa, active mainly in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Kober was born in Wrocław then known as Breslau, Silesia. Trained as a guild painter, he traveled through Germany for three years as a wandering journeyman to gain experience in different workshops. In 1583 he came to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from Magdeburg and become court painter of King Stephen Báthory and Queen Anna Jagiellon. He was appointed the royal servitor and at the court he met his wife Dorothea, also a painter specializing in painting crests. After the King's death he returned to Wrocław, from where he joined the Imperial court of Rudolf II in Prague as a portrait painter, due to the conflict with other guild painters in the city. The emperor released him from the guild laws in 1587. After his return to Poland in 1590 he was employed by King Sigismund III Vasa and worked in Kraków and Warsaw. He also traveled to Graz in 1595 to paint portraits of the family of Archduke Charles II for Queen Anne of Austria. Kober died in Kraków or Warsaw.

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