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 "Dutch Warships by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Town and Castle of Deal, Kent by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Hollar-Rostock by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Five Boys and a Satyr, 1646 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-1375729).jpg "Shell, Hippopus Hippopus by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Lion and Tulip by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Great View of Prague by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Westminster in 1647, from")
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.jpg "Dutch West Indiaman (Naues Mercatoriae Hollandicae per Indias Occidentales) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "London, before and after the Great Fire by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Frontispiece and title page to")
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.jpg "The prospect of London and Westminster taken from Lambeth by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Members of the Star Chamber; Queen Henrietta Maria Sails from England by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Twenty three year old Indian from Virginia, engraving by Wenceslaus Hollar 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 "Diana as Huntress by Paulus Pontius")
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.jpg "Male head in profile to left with muscles exposed, 1660 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Antwerp Cathedral Prospectus Turris Ecclesiae Cathedralis by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Bonn, c.1630-36 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Bust of a Woman Wearing Low-Cut Dress by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Abbess by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Grotesque Profiles of a Man and Woman Facing Each Other by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Mulier Westphalica ex Archiep Monasteri by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "A Griffin by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Two Deformed Heads 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 "The Several Habits of English Women, from the Nobility to the Country Women..., 1640 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Several Habits of English Women, from the Nobility to the Country Women 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 "Five Satyrs and Two Nymphs by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Nun by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Strasbourg by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-35993).jpg "Spring by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Kunibert Tower near Cologne by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Head of Young Man with Long Hair in Profile to the Left, 1644-52 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1375906).jpg "Christ, John, and Three Cherubs by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Boers, 1647 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Sphinx with Two Bodies, after Giulio Romano by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Destruction of Cheapside Cross; the")
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.jpg "Self-Portrait by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "London Citizen")
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.jpg "Windsor Castle, St. George")
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.jpg "Woman from Lower Palatinate by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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Verschillende_vogels_(series_t_-_(MeisterDrucke-1369876).jpg "Waterfowl (Various Birds series) by Peter van Liesebetten")
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.jpg "The Globe Theatre, c.1647, published by Robert Wilkinson, London, 1810 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Albury by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Head of an Old Man with Tufts of Curly Hair Around Ear in Profile to Left, 1644-52 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Dutch Warship by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Noble Woman of Brabant by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Head of a Toothless Man with Bare, Sinewy Neck in Profile to Left by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Bohemian Noblewoman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Head studies by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "A Regular Cannon of Ye Order of Premonstratum by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "William Fenner, Rector of Rochford by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Head of a Child, after Sadeler by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "English Lady in Winter Costume by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Albrecht Dürer by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Four Seasons: Summer by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Head of an old man with a pronounced chin, short cropped hair and gaping mouth showing by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Knight and Death, from The Dance of Death by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Monk, from the Dance of Death by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "St Faiths Church in the crypt of old St Pauls Cathedral, London by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "A New and Exact Map of England by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "St Paul")
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Graenwich_(title_on_object)_-_(MeisterDrucke-1375285).jpg "View of Greenwich (left plate) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Wife of a Citizen of London by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Head of a muscular old man in profile to left with flowing hair, 1625-77 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "View of the Tomb of Avaline, Countess of Lancaster (Wife of Edmund, Earl of Lancaster) in Westminster Abbey by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Head of a Man with Thick Curly Hair in Profile to the Left by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Summer: The Bathing Place by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Mulier Svevica vel Augustana by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Four Seasons: Winter by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_(detail)_-_(MeisterDrucke-227379).jpg "View of London, published 1647 (detail) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Jesus and St. John Embracing, with Cherubs by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman with a bound tress of hair in profile to right by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman with Pleated Collar and Large Fur Hat by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Bear Garden by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Prospect of Oxford by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "View of the East Part of Southwark Looking Towards Greenwich by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Sphinx with Two Bodies by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Lower Inner Part of Tangier by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Four boys, a young satyr and a goat, 1647 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Scourging by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Bust of a Man with a Small Turned-Up Nose and Very High Upper Lip, Wearing Hood, in Profile by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Two Moths and Six Insects by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Maid Returning from Market, 1640 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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Ver_-_(MeisterDrucke-1376171).jpg "Swan, Hen with Chicks, and Other Birds by Peter van Liesebetten")
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.jpg "Charles II by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Tobias and the Angel by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman with string of pearls in her hair looking downwards to right by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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Verschillende_vo_-_(MeisterDrucke-1369730).jpg "Geese and a Cockatoo by Peter van Liesebetten")
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.jpg "Head of Young Man Wearing Hat in Profile to Right by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Antwerp Wife by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Hyems - Winter, 1641 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Albury, 1645 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Bows, Quivers and a Spear by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Cardinal, from the Dance of Death by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1375757).jpg "Shell, Vasum Muricatum Born by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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