With Maximilian the Habsburgs began to bulge out of their purely German frame and become a European dynasty, but Maximilian himself, depicted in a portrait by Albrecht Durer as a sharp-nosed, splendid grand seigneur, was above all a Viennese. He was born in the city, and there he lies buried. Brilliant and flighty, he was described by his Florentine contemporary, Niccolo Machiavelli as “the greatest spendthrift of our time, or any other.” Naturally, Vienna loved him.
