Story of David for the Quartiere di Cosimo (realised in 1561-1562), a four piece series of the Story of Solomon (realised in 1564-1565), two sets of the Story of Cyrus comprising 13 tapestries (realised in 1565-1567) and two more series of the Story of David. He further provided designs for cartoons for a series of tapestries on the History of the Medici for the Quartiere di Leone X (realised in 1569-1574). Cosimo wanted to decorate his outdoor villa in Poggio a Caiano with tapestries. Stradanus developed a decorative project with hunting scenes divided in three categories: hunts for four-legged animals, animals in the air and animals in the water. The designs were inspired by contemporary sources, the classical literature of Pliny, Homer and Herodotus, as well as the hunting practices at the Florentine court. The designs were received with great acclaim. Stradanus completed 28 cartoons for the series, which was woven between 1566 and 1577. The designs for these tapestries were later published as prints by printers in Antwerp such as Philip Galle and other international publishing houses. Prints Stradanus became interested in working for the printers in the 1570s in particular after his visit to Antwerp in 1578. Initially, he provided existing designs he had created for his paintings and tapestries to the publishers to be turned into prints. The Antwerp publisher Hieronymus Cock published in 1570 a series of prints after Stradanus' designs for the tapestries of hunting scenes he made for the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I de' Medici. From 1576 the design of prints became one of the principal activities of Stradanus. He later worked with Philip Galle as his main publisher, likely as a result of meeting with Galle in Antwerp during his visit in 1578. Stradanus' virtuoso drawings were engraved by some of the leading engravers of the second half of the sixteenth century, among them Hendrick Goltzius, Philip Galle and his sons Theodoor and Cornelis, Hans Collaert and his sons Adriaen and Jan, and members of the Sadeler family and the Wierix brothers. The subjects of the prints were wide-ranging and were in the first place geared towards the demand on the international market for prints that was supplied by the Antwerp printers. After the take-over by Antwerp by the Catholics, the preference was for counter-reformation themes such as the two Passion cycles, series on the life of the Virgin and the