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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.jpg "Hollar-Rostock by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1375729).jpg "Shell, Hippopus Hippopus 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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.jpg "Woman with a Fan and a Mirror, Seen from Behind by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman Dressed in Black with a Mask, Bonnet, and Muff 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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_-_(MeisterDrucke-75344).jpg "The Tower of London, c.1637-41 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 "Woman with a Scent Box Hanging on a Chain by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman with Pearl Necklace and Bracelet 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 "Winter: The Parade Ground by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Bearded Old Man with a Tilted Head by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman with Veil and a Feather Fan by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1256465).jpg "Shell by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Head and Shoulders of a Turkish Man with a Moustache and Large Turban 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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.jpg "Head of Young Man 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 "Ingolstadt, from \"German Views\" by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Strasbourg: The Toll House by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "To DĂĽren, from \"European Views\" by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Summer: The Bathing Place by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Noble French Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Old St. Paul")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1713631).jpg "Spanish Gentlewoman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Wife of a Better Quality London Citizen by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "A Danube Landscape by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Washing of Hands by Hans Holbein the Younger")
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.jpg "The Old Woman and Death by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Dni Maioris sive Praetoris Londinensis Vxoris Hab: 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 "Bearded Old Man by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Lamentation by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Mulier Westphalica ex Archiep Monasteri by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Globe Theatre, c.1647, published by Robert Wilkinson, London, 1810 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Bonn, c.1630-36 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Old Man in Cap by Leonardo da Vinci")
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.jpg "Bald-headed Man by Leonardo da Vinci")
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.jpg "London Citizen")
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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 "Three Children")
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.jpg "Noble English Court Lady 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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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1711779).jpg "Antwerp Cathedral (Prospect of the Tower of the Cathedral Church) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Citizen of London Daughter by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Noble French Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman with a Mask and Muff by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Hungarian Woman 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 "Two Deformed Heads Facing Inwards by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Matrona Tiguriensis by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Noble or Generous French Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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 State 3 - (MeisterDrucke-607669).jpg "The Abraham Story (in Full Sheet Form). State 3 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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.jpg "Whitehall from the River 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 "Allegory of the Peace of Westphalia, 1648 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Noble French Woman, 1643 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Viper and the File by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Noblewoman of the English Court by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Interior of the Nave of St. Paul")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1370708).jpg "Fable of the Basilisk and the Weasel by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman of Augsburg by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman from the Duchy of WĂĽrttemberg by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Generous Gallic Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Wife of the London Mayor by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1716030).jpg "Portrait of a Man (Arcolano Armafodrito) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Mulier Augustana by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Map of England and Wales by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Carrying the Cross by Hans Holbein the Younger")
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.jpg "Woman of Augsburg by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Head of Henrietta Maria by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman from the Duchy of WĂĽrttemberg, 1643 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Matrona Argentinensis Caenam Dni Accedens e des Nymphs by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Viennese Woman at Home by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Peasant Woman from Bohemia by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Coronation Procession of Charles II Through London, 1662 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1375747).jpg "Shell, Tibia Fusus Melanocheilus by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Franconian Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Warships and a Spouting Whale (State 2) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Henry Colthurst by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Merchant")
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.jpg "Persian Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Nobilis Mulier Anglicana by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Mercator")
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.jpg "London Wife by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Generous Greek Woman in the City of Pera, 1644 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Henry van der Borcht, Painter, 1648 by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "The Entombment by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Woman of Basel by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Map of Oxford by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1375662).jpg "Shell, Nautilus Pompilius (Shells) by Wenceslaus Hollar")
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.jpg "Bust of a Man with Hooked Nose, Prominent Upper Lip, Open Mouth and Short Curly Hair 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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