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Lot Essay
Wenceslaus Hollar's life spanned one of the most turbulent periods in European history, encompassing civil wars in Germany and England, a Plague, which claimed his son, and a great fire, which claimed his adopted city. Yet throughout Hollar's work is characterised by a serenity and harmony rarely matched before or since. His place in the history of English art was made possible by a meeting which took place in 1636. Having travelled to Germany to learn his trade as an artist and printmaker, he met the Earl of Arundel in Cologne. Lord Arundel was renowned as one of the wealthiest and most active patrons of the arts of his times, and Hollar, seizing the opportunity to escape war-torn Germany became a member of his entourage, returning with him to England in December of the same year. Significantly, Hollar's first view of London was from the Thames, as the party made its way up river from Gravesend.
In addition to his role as artist to, and printmaker of, treasures in the Arundel collection, Hollar delighted in topography, and produced some of the earliest, and finest views of England. It is hardly surprising that London became one of his favourite subjects. Arundel House, where he lodged, was fronted by the Strand, with the great river flowing behind.
An inveterate sketcher, Hollar produced thousands of preparatory drawings for his designs, all but a few of which are now lost. Of those that do survive, several relate to his masterpiece, The Long View of London, from Bankside. Generally acknowledged to be one of the finest printed panoramas of London ever produced, the Long View was the result of many years gestation. Many of the preparatory sketches were made from the tower of St Mary Overy, in Southwark, and Hollar's great pains to ensure accuracy are evident. Errors in an undertaking of this magnitude are perhaps inevitable. The circular building at the left labelled 'The Globe' is infact 'The Hope Theatre', and the larger circular building labelled 'beere baiting' is infact the second Globe Theatre of 1614, replacing Shakespeare's theatre which burned in 1613. The result of Hollar's labours is tinged with sadness. The magnificent view he placed before us was destroyed in the Great Fire barely twenty years later. What began as a project to map the metropolis, ended as a record of a lost city.
The present impression was formerly in the collection of Samuel Naseby Harrington, a close friend of the artist Seymour Haden, and cataloguer of his etched work. Haden was a noted Hollar enthusiast, and it is believed that this impression was given to Harrington by the artist. Richard Pennington, in his catalogue raisonne of Hollar's prints, quotes Haden's opinion:
'If anyone want truth without pretension, let him go to Hollar. If he want perfection of 'biting' and the precise degree of gradation required let him also go to Hollar. People sometimes say to me, "What is it you see in Hollar?", and I always answer, "Not quite but nearly everything."'
In addition to his role as artist to, and printmaker of, treasures in the Arundel collection, Hollar delighted in topography, and produced some of the earliest, and finest views of England. It is hardly surprising that London became one of his favourite subjects. Arundel House, where he lodged, was fronted by the Strand, with the great river flowing behind.
An inveterate sketcher, Hollar produced thousands of preparatory drawings for his designs, all but a few of which are now lost. Of those that do survive, several relate to his masterpiece, The Long View of London, from Bankside. Generally acknowledged to be one of the finest printed panoramas of London ever produced, the Long View was the result of many years gestation. Many of the preparatory sketches were made from the tower of St Mary Overy, in Southwark, and Hollar's great pains to ensure accuracy are evident. Errors in an undertaking of this magnitude are perhaps inevitable. The circular building at the left labelled 'The Globe' is infact 'The Hope Theatre', and the larger circular building labelled 'beere baiting' is infact the second Globe Theatre of 1614, replacing Shakespeare's theatre which burned in 1613. The result of Hollar's labours is tinged with sadness. The magnificent view he placed before us was destroyed in the Great Fire barely twenty years later. What began as a project to map the metropolis, ended as a record of a lost city.
The present impression was formerly in the collection of Samuel Naseby Harrington, a close friend of the artist Seymour Haden, and cataloguer of his etched work. Haden was a noted Hollar enthusiast, and it is believed that this impression was given to Harrington by the artist. Richard Pennington, in his catalogue raisonne of Hollar's prints, quotes Haden's opinion:
'If anyone want truth without pretension, let him go to Hollar. If he want perfection of 'biting' and the precise degree of gradation required let him also go to Hollar. People sometimes say to me, "What is it you see in Hollar?", and I always answer, "Not quite but nearly everything."'