Study law or become an artist? This question, which is still very topical today, had to be asked as early as the 17th century by the young Wenceslas Hollar, known as Wenceslaus Hollar in English and Václav Hollar in Czech. Fortunately for posterity, Hollar chose the artistic side and created countless drawings and copperplate engravings that still have great artistic and historical value today. Born in Prague in 1607, Hollar was apprenticed to the famous engraver Matthäus Merian in Frankfurt am Main in 1627, where he learnt, above all, his later highly regarded methodology of the topography of cities. During his training and stay in the Holy Roman Empire he met the Englishman Lord Thomas Howard, one of the most important art collectors of his time, and was significantly influenced by him. In 1637 Hollar followed his patron Howard back to England, where he spent the rest of his life.
During his training in Frankfurt and later in England, Hollar began to accept various commissions, including views and topographies of places in Germany, Bohemia, England, the Netherlands, Switzerland and present-day Morocco, as well as copperplate engravings of everyday life at the time, seascapes, depictions of nature and portraits of saints and well-known people. With his attention to detail, his experimentation with colour prints and his diligence, Hollar gradually made a name for himself and soon worked for the British royal court under King Charles I. Numerous books with illustrations followed, including classic editions of Homer or Vergil. After the great fire of London in 1666, in which the city centre of London was almost completely burnt out and destroyed, Hollar produced very detailed maps of London including its destroyed districts. These works as also Hollar's previous topographies of old London belong today to the most important sources about London in the Middle Ages. Because of his works about London, Hollar was sent on an expedition to Tangier and today's Morocco by King Charles II in 1668, whose illustrations and maps are also very important today.
The life of the artist was marked by many strokes of fate, such as the impoverishment of his family during the Thirty Years' War, the English Civil War and the temporary captivity of Hollar, the death of his son James by the Great Plague in London or the Great Fire of London. Hollar himself also lived in poverty for most of his life, more or less despite his talent and diligence, as he had little sense of negotiation and payment and often sold his works below value. Nevertheless, his oeuvre comprises approximately 400 drawings, more than 3000 etchings and more than 2700 printing plates, and his estate is one of the most important sources of early and middle 17th century Europe, due to his attention to detail and the distinctive documentation of numerous historical events. Wenzel Hollar died in London in 1677 in great poverty.
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.jpg "The Town and Castle of Deal, Kent by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Dutch Warships by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Lion and Tulip by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Five Boys and a Satyr, 1646 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1375729).jpg "Shell, Hippopus Hippopus by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Great View of Prague by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Hollar-Rostock by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Animals and Plants: Leopard with Plants and Insects, 1662 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1256465).jpg "Shell by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Map of Civil War England and a View of Prague, 1632 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-75344).jpg "The Tower of London, c.1637-41 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Summer: The Bathing Place by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Winter: The Parade Ground by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Strasbourg: The Toll House by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Bald-headed Man by Leonardo da Vinci")
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.jpg "Old Man in Cap by Leonardo da Vinci")
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.jpg "Woman with Snood by Leonardo da Vinci")
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.jpg "Noble French Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman of Augsburg by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Views of London: New Palace Yard with Westminster Hall, and the Clock House by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Map of London After the Great Fire of 1666 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Noble English Court Lady by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Matrona Tiguriensis by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "London Wife by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Four Seasons: Autumn by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Allegory of the Peace of Westphalia, 1648 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Wife of a Better Quality London Citizen by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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Karikaturen_koppen_en_-_(MeisterDrucke-1405566).jpg "Two Deformed Heads Caricatures, Heads and Deformations after Leonardo da Vinci (series title) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Mercantoris Hanauiensis Vxor by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "La Serre. Entry of the Queen Mother into ... the Low Countries. State 2 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Generous Gallic Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Mercator")
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.jpg "Wife of the London Mayor by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Noble French Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Map of England and Wales by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Dni Maioris sive Praetoris Londinensis Vxoris Hab: by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman of Augsburg by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman from Prague by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "A large man with a bald head facing a grotesque female by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Spring: The Shooting Range by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Citizen of London Daughter by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Virgin of Basel by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Viennese Woman at Home by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Mercantoris Hanauiensis Vxor by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Mulier Augustana by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Noble French Woman, 1643 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Monk of the Carthusian Order. State 3 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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Verschillende_vogels_(series_title)_-_(MeisterDrucke-1371632).jpg "Eagle (Various Birds series) by Peter van Liesebetten")
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.jpg "Persian Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Bonn, c.1630-36 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman of Basel by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Heads of a Large Bald Man and Grotesque Woman (series title) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Deformed Heads of a Woman with Straight Hair and a Man with a Double-Brimmed Hat, Caricatures, Heads and Deformations after Leonardo da Vinci (series title) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1371534).jpg "Fable of the Satyr and the Farmer (series title: Fables) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Hungarian Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Nun and Death by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Nobilis Mulier Anglicana by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Head of a Man with Protruding Chin and Snub Nose Looking Upwards in Profile to Left by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman from the Duchy of Württemberg by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Westminster Hall, Interior, with The Trial of the Earl of Strafford by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Noble or Generous French Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Six Insects, a Caterpillar, and a Snail by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Mulier Habitans Algieri by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Swabian or Augsburg Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Deformed Heads of a Bald Man and Woman with Horns on Their Heads by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-12409).jpg "Shells (Turritella terebra and T. duplicata L.) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Rich Man, from the Dance of Death, 1651 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1370708).jpg "Fable of the Basilisk and the Weasel by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Map of the City of Florence by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Two Deformed Heads Facing Inwards by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Franconian Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_execution_of_English_politician_Thomas_Went_-_(MeisterDrucke-971900).jpg "First English Revolution (1641-1649): execution of English politician Thomas Wentworth de Strafford (1593-1641) on 12/05/1641 at Tower Hill in London. Engraving by Wenceslaus Hollar (17th century) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Portrait of an Old Man with Pronounced Chin by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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Verschillende_vogels_(series_t_-_(MeisterDrucke-1371621).jpg "Two Swans (Various Birds series) by Peter van Liesebetten")
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.jpg "Matrona Argentinensis Caenam Dni Accedens e des Nymphs by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Noble Spanish Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "English Gentlewoman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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Verschillende_vogels_(series_title)_-_(MeisterDrucke-1361128).jpg "Peacocks (series title: Various Species of Birds) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Cologne Woman Walking by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Deformed Heads of a Laughing Man and Woman with Headscarf by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Peasant Woman from Bohemia by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Persian Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Westphalian Woman from the Archbishopric of Münster by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Kunibert Tower near Cologne by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Mulier Westphalica ex Archiep Monasteri by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman of Basel by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Heads of a Bald Man and a Woman with a Turban (Varie figurae et probae series) (Caricatures, Heads and Deformations after Leonardo da Vinci series) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Old Woman and Death by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Chamber by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Virgin of Zurich by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman from the Duchy of Württemberg, 1643 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Mercatoris Parisiensis Vxor by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Head and Shoulders of a Woman with a Veil and Diaphanous Neckware, 1645 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1375784).jpg "Shell, Melongena Melongena by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Turkish Court Lady by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Noble Italian Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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Verschillende_vo_-_(MeisterDrucke-1369730).jpg "Geese and a Cockatoo by Peter van Liesebetten")
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 State 2 - (MeisterDrucke-544643).jpg "Chesterton (Peto). State 2 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Nisus slaying Volscens. State 2 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "A Moth, Butterflies, and Bees by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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