Fireworks at Hemissem
c. 1650
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
24.9 × 41.4 cm (9 13/16 × 16 5/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
45430
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Wenceslaus Hollar’s nocturnal scene of innovative pyrotechnics vividly marks the culmination of a series of four prints depicting triumphal processions and other festivities held for the Imperial Postmaster General of the Holy Roman Emperor, the Count of Thurn and Taxis, and his wife on their visit to Hemissem, the home of Alexander Roelants, Postmaster General of the Netherlands.
About the Artist
Wenceslaus Hollar · 1607–1677
Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) was a prolific Bohemian etcher who became one of the most accomplished printmakers of the seventeenth century. Born in Prague, he trained under Matthäus Merian in Frankfurt before entering the service of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, in 1636. Hollar spent most of his career in England, where he produced approximately 2,740 etchings documenting an extraordinary range...