Humprecht Jan Czernin, future diplomat, rich landowner, and especially prominent art collector and patron of baroque arts and architecture, undertook his Grand Tour to Italy, France and the Low Countries. He spent three years traveling round Europe in the latter years of the Thirty Years War, concluding his studies. Neither his future career at the Vienese Imperial Court and the diplomatic misson to Venice (1660-1663), nor his extensive sponsorship activities would be possible without the significant support of his great-uncle Hermann. Hermann Senior (1576-1651) gained substantial estates during the turbulent times of the Thirty Years War, and he secured it via the fideicommissum. His social rise is illustrated by his promotion to Imperial Count in 1627, which was extended in 1644 to all his family members. Having no children, he chose Humprecht Jan in 1648 to become his heir. Thus, the Czernin family experienced a significant social and property rise when they moved up in a 30-year period from an ancient, but inferior Bohemian noble family with limited cultural horizons to one of the most prominent families in the Kingdom of Bohemia, ranked with the elite of the imperial court and involved in European politics. Humprecht Jan is a key and in many characteristics typical, therefore worth studying figure of this turbulent era.