Head and shoulders of a woman with a veil and diaphanous neckware
Medium
Etching; only state
Dimensions
Plate: 2 11/16 × 2 1/16 in. (6.9 × 5.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917
Accession Number
17.50.18-35
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate etching, titled *Head and Shoulders of a Woman with Veil and Diaphanousware*, captures the refined elegance of mid-17th-century portrait. Created by Wenceslaus Hollar 1645, the Bohemian-born artist—famed for his meticulous reproductive prints and topographical views—showcases a mysterious woman in soft, translucent fabrics that drape her shoulders and veil her face. At just 2 11/16 × 2 1/16 inches, the plate's intimate scale invites close inspection, highlighting Hollar's mastery during his time in England amid the turmoil of the Civil War. Hollar's etching technique shines here...
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...