Abstract
The physician and alchemist Michael Maier (1569-1622)1 is often considered a typical figure embodying the main features of Rudolf's scientific and artistic patronage on the boundary between the natural and occult sciences. However, this view is only partially true.
Maier's personal contact with the Prague milieu and the Imperial Court was short and intense at only one point. On the other hand, Maier did indeed obtain a great deal from it and later incorporated this in his books, particularly "Atalanta fugiens".
Emperorʼs chief interest was in understanding the actual process of the Great Work, unlike many other highborn patrons of Hermetic science, who were indeed concerned mainly with filling their treasuries. Michael Maier offered him a similar counsel; however, the emperor decided to promote him socially instead of providing him with resources that would enable him to continue his experimentation.
However, this is merely a hypothesis and we have to conclude that the question to what degree Rudolf II and Michael Maier understood each other will probably remain unanswered.