Head of Young Man
1644–52
Medium
Etching: second state of two (NH)
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 1/4 × 2 1/8 in. (5.7 × 5.4 cm) right hand side of cut plate and cut within platemark on other sides
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917
Accession Number
17.50.18-241
Tags
Art Historical Context
Wenceslaus Hollar's *Head of Young Man*, created between 1644 and1652, is a delicate etching that exemplifies the artist's mastery of printmaking during a turbulent era. A Bohemian engraver who fled the Thirty Years' War to settle in England, Hollar under royal patronage, producing thousands of intricate prints. This second state of two—from a cut plate measuring just 2¼ × 2⅛ inches—captures the thoughtful gaze of its youthful subject with remarkable precision, highlighting Hollar's reputation for lifelike portraits amid the Baroque emphasis on realism and detail. Etching allowed Hollar to ac...
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...