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 "Animals and Plants: Leopard with Plants and Insects, 1662 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Great View of Prague by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1375729).jpg "Shell, Hippopus Hippopus by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Five Boys and a Satyr, 1646 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Lion and Tulip by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Antwerp Cathedral Prospectus Turris Ecclesiae Cathedralis by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The prospect of London and Westminster taken from Lambeth by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Dutch West Indiaman (Naues Mercatoriae Hollandicae per Indias Occidentales) 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 "Frontispiece and title page to")
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.jpg "Hans von Zürich Goltshmidt, 1647 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Strasbourg by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1370708).jpg "Fable of the Basilisk and the Weasel 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 Several Habits of English Women, from the Nobility to the Country Women..., 1640 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Westminster in 1647, from")
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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 "Woman with Houpette on Forehead Turned to Left, 1643 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Wife of the London Mayor by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1406044).jpg "Shot Deer, Hunting, Hunting Dogs and Game (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 "Diana as Huntress by Paulus Pontius")
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.jpg "Sphinx with Two Bodies, after Giulio Romano by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Baroque Lute Player by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Woman with a Mannish Hat and Light Muff by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Bonn, c.1630-36 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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Verschillende_vogels_(seri_-_(MeisterDrucke-1369946).jpg "Four Wading Birds by Peter van Liesebetten")
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.jpg "Title-page to Varie Figuræ & Probæ, 1645 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 "French Noblewoman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Kunibert Tower near Cologne by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "April 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 "Views of London: New Palace Yard with Westminster Hall, and the Clock House by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Wife of a Citizen of London by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "London, before and after the Great Fire 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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.jpg "Design for a scabbard, from a drawing by Albrecht Durer by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Strasbourg by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-605343).jpg "John Donne (Monument) 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 "Prospect of the lower part of Tangier, from the hill West of White-hall, 1669-73 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Thermaru Diocletiani Ruinae (Baths of Diocletian) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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Am_-_(MeisterDrucke-1333332).jpg "Landscape with View of Mülheim (series: Landscapes and Cityscapes, Amoenissimi Aliquot Locorum in Diversis Provincijs Iacetium Prospectus) 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 "The Temptation by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Woman with Scissors by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Sphinx with Two Bodies by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "An Old Man and a Girl, after Hulsman, 1635 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Woman with a Mannish Hat and Dark Muff by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Ciuis Norimbergensis Vxor, 1643 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_(detail)_-_(MeisterDrucke-267252).jpg "View of London, Published 1647 (detail) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman from Lower Palatinate by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_the_first_President_of_the_Royal_S_-_(MeisterDrucke-200870).jpg "Bust of Charles II, with Lord Brouncker, the first President of the Royal Society, and Francis Bacon by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Seasons: Spring by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "St Saviour")
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.jpg "Charles II, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Strasbourg by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "View of Steiereck on the Danube, c.1636 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Muffs and Articles of Clothing on a Table by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Near Prague, 1635 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_(detail)_-_(MeisterDrucke-229622).jpg "View of London (detail) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Queen, from the Dance of Death, 1651 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1375906).jpg "Christ, John, and Three Cherubs by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Standing Lion by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "London Citizen")
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 - (MeisterDrucke-607879).jpg "Digby Family (Monument) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Landscape with a House on Cliffs by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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 State 3 - (MeisterDrucke-607724).jpg "Alexander Nowell (monument). State 3 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "English Views: Isle of Wight from Portsmouth by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "View of Arundel House, Strand, London, engraved by Adam Bierling, 1646 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Pigs and Donkeys by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Strasbourg: A Toll House by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The South Prospect of the Conventual Church of Westminster, London by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Two Tombs by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Brooke House, Clopton in Hackney, the south aspect 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 "Frontispiece to")
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.jpg "The Four Seasons: Summer by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "A Moth, Three Butterflies and Two Beetles by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Medallions with Portraits of Sebald Beham and Anna Beham by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Peter Paul Rubens, 1625-77 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Delfshaven by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Head of a Black Woman with a Lace Kerchief Hat by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Aestas - Summer, Three-quarter-length seasons by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Self-Portrait by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The North Prospect of the Conventual Church of Westminster, London 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 "Boers, 1647 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Strasbourg: A Toll House by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Bust of elderly man with nose that meets his lower lip, wearing wide flat cap in profile, 1665 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Portrait of Pietro Aretino, c.1670 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_en_vrouwVarie_figurae_et_-_(MeisterDrucke-1375301).jpg "Deformed Caricature Heads of a Man with Cap (Dante?) and Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Tower, London by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Portrait of Pietro Aretino by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1236013).jpg "Woman with White Veil and Black Hat (Mary Stuart?) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Bows, Quivers and a Spear by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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