tolpuddle martyr: November 2014

Friday, 7 November 2014

Etchings from Hollar's Mulierum 1643. This is a fashionable woman from Naples.

Etchings from Hollar's Mulierum, London 1643. This is a fashionable woman from London.


This is the title page of the 1643 edition of Hollar's Mulierum. Wenceslaus or Vaclav Hollar was a Bohemian etcher.								Born in Prague 13th July, 1607, he died in London on 25th March 1677, buried at St.Margaret's Church, Westminster. His earliest works are dated 1625-6. He was greatly influenced by Durer. In 1633 he moved to Cologne where he produced some his best works. In 1636 he attracted the notice of the famous nobleman and art collector Thomas Howard the 21st Earl of Arundel . He travelled with Arundel to Vienna and Prague and returned with him, and remaining in the Earl's household for many years. After 1646 he earned his living by working for various authors and publishers. Hollar created "View of Greenwich" during his first year in England. The plate measured nearly 3 feet long, and he was paid 30/- for this. Throughout the English Civil War he worked in Antwerp where he produced some of his best known works. he illustrated many books. After the Great Fire of London he produced some of his famous "Views of London". The King sent him to Tangier in 1668. He lived for a further 8 years still working for booksellers including a large plate of Edinburgh dated 1670. He died on 25th March 1677, and was buried at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, London in 1677 sadly, in dire poverty.