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Heinrich Rantzau was born in 1526 in Steinburg in Holstein and was the son of the widely travelled and celebrated knight Johann Rantzau. At the age of twelve he was Sent to Wittenberg, a move which had a significant bearing on the course his life was to take. This was the Wittenberg of the last stages of the Reformation and Heinrich Rantzau's studies there principally encompassed the humanities, jurisprudence and rhetoric. After his education he went to the Court of Charles V in 1548 for a period of five years. In 1554 Heinrich Rantzau was first employed as the bailiff of Segeberg in Holstein, and one year later as a royal councilor. In 1556 he became the Danish king's governor in the Duchies, a position he kept until shortly before his death in 1598. Heinrich Rantzau accumulated immense wealth partly through the extensive property of his family and partly from his wife's dowry. He was able to consolidate this wealth and multiply it considerably. This economic foundation formed the basis for his activities as a patron of art. Nurtured by a humanistic education, Heinrich Rantzau had a great personal interest in the art, literature and astronomy of his time. In this paper some examples of his activities as a patron of art have been touched upon. Put briefly, the works of art which Heinrich Rantzau ordered were noted for their extremely personal character and always referred to his person in some way. Art served Heinrich Rantzau as a medium for the refinement of his life and as a means of extending his fame. In the Duchies of the sixteenth century Heinrich Rantzau was a leading figure of humanist thought and set a fine example to the aristocracy of his land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]