Seleucus and His Son
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
28.3 × 37.3 cm (11 3/16 × 14 11/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
109014
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Wenceslaus Hollar dedicated this etching to his patron Thomas Howard, the 14th Earl of Arundel, and documented much of Howard’s art collection in print. This image depicts the epitome of ancient justice, Seleucus, who offered one of his own eyes to save his adulterous son from losing both. The print reproduces Giulio Romano’s fresco in the Palazzo del Te in Mantua— which supplied the architectural shape of the image. However, it is likely that Hollar used not an original preparatory drawing but ...
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...