Royal Exchange
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Sheet; trimmed within platemark: 29.3 × 39.2 cm (11 9/16 × 15 7/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
28561
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Wenceslaus Hollar depicted this international marketplace in intricate detail, including such intimate scenes as a woman hawking broadsheet prints on the left and Turkish vendors in the center. Sir Thomas Gresham, whose portrait medallion hangs beneath the title in later states, built this impressive structure in 1569. The building burned to the ground in London’s Great Fire, 22 years after Hollar’s depiction. The print would be reissued in 1668, however, catering to public interest by adding a ...
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...