The Garden of Eden
Medium
Etching on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Sheet, trimmed within platemark: 7.3 × 5.3 cm (2 7/8 × 2 1/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
108985
Art Historical Context
Step into the lush paradise of *The Garden of Eden*, a delicate 1651 etching by Wenceslaus Hollar, the masterful Bohemian printmaker who brought unparalleled detail to 17th Europe. Measuring just 7.3 × 5.3 cm, this intimate work on ivory wove paper captures the biblical idyll with Hollar's signature precision, likely depicting Adam, Eve, and the harmonious animal kingdom amid verdant foliage—a timeless symbol of innocence and divine creation. Hollar, a prolific etcher active in England after fleeing the Thirty Years' War, excelled in the Baroque tradition of intricate line work. Etching allow...
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...