The present work repeats the composition of an engraving of 1587 by Hendrick Goltzius, which itself is based on a design by Spranger.  The copper, however, is significantly smaller than the print and omits the dedication on the tomb and the inscription below.  Its size and the delicacy of  execution would have appealed to the refined taste of northern European collectors in the late 16th century and early 17th centuries.

1.  See F.W.H. Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, Amsterdam 1949 - circa 2010, vol. VIII, p. 10𝔉9, no. 320.