Portrait of Viglius van Aytta

Wigle van Aytta was a native Frisian, who travelled all over Europe to study. He met Erasmus, whose progressive ideas on humanism, in which man is given a central position, appealed to him. Viglius became a professor at the university of Ingolstadt, but eventually returned to the Netherlands, where he was appointed president of Charles V’s Secret Council, a powerful position.
Here we see Viglius portrayed as Chancellor of the Order of the golden Fleece. Top left is the Order’s emblem: a golden ram’s fleece including the animal’s head and legs, hanging on a gold chain which passes through a ring.