Nine Heads
1644–52
Medium
Etching; only state
Dimensions
Plate: 1 3/8 × 4 7/16 in. (3.5 × 11.3 cm) Sheet: 1 7/16 × 4 1/2 in. (3.7 × 11.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917
Accession Number
17.50.18-106
Tags
Art Historical Context
Wenceslaus Hollar's *Nine Heads* (1644–52) is a delicate etching that captures the artist's mastery of intricate line work during a tumultuous period in his life. A Bohemian-born engraver who fled religious strife in Central Europe, Hollar settled in England under the patronage of Charles I before English Civil War forced him into exile in Antwerp. Created amid these upheavals, this small print—measuring just 1 3/8 × 4 7/16 inches on the plate—showcases nine profile heads arranged in a compact row, likely as studies in physiognomy or character types, reflecting the 17th-century fascination wit...
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...