In around 1570, after completing his vocational studies, Adriaen de Fries travelled to Italy. From 1581 he worked for his fellow-countryman Giambologna in Florence, probably as a full-time employee. In 1588 he was appointed court sculptor to Duke Charles Emanuel of Savoy in Turin, and in 1593 he received his first imperial commission.

Following stays in Rome and Augsburg, he was officially appointed sculptor of the chamber to Emperor Rudolph II (1552 – 1612) in 1601, moving immediately to his court in Prague. In the decade that followed, he worked almost exclusively on bronzes for Rudolph II. Only on exceptional occasions was he allowed to accept additional private commissions, mostly of a religious nature, from high court officials from the Emperor’s immediate circle. The most important such official was Karl of Liechtenstein (1569 – 1627) who, soon after his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1599, attained the influential post of High Steward at the court of Rudolph II. Albrecht von Waldstein was also an important de Fries patron during his final creative years.