Self-Portrait (from "Image de divers hommes: The true effigies of the most eminent Painters," 1649)
Medium
Etching; third state of five
Dimensions
Sheet: 6 1/4 × 4 5/16 in. (15.8 × 11 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Accession Number
2012.136.624
Tags
Art Historical Context
This self-portrait by Wenceslaus Hollar appears in the 1649 publication *Image de divers hommes: The true effigies of the most eminent Painters*, a of engraved likenesses of leading artists. Hollar, a skilled Bohemian etcher who worked extensively in Antwerp and London, created this print as both a personal introduction and a tribute to profession. The image captures the artist at work, reflecting the 17th-century interest in documenting creative figures for an educated audience across Europe. Executed in etching—a medium prized for its ability to render fine lines and textures—this print exi...
About the Artist
Johannes Meyssens|Wenceslaus Hollar|Wenceslaus Hollar · 1612–1670
Joannes Meyssens (1612–1670), also known as Johannes, Jan, or Jean Meyssens, was a Flemish Baroque painter, engraver, and print publisher whose career exemplifies the multifaceted nature of seventeenth-century artistic enterprise. Born in Brussels on May 17, 1612, and active primarily in Antwerp where he died on September 18, 1670, Meyssens made his most significant contribution not through his pa...