Visit to A. Roelants
Medium
Etching; only state
Dimensions
Plate: 9 3/4 × 16 1/4 in. (24.8 × 41.2 cm) cut on the platemark
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1920
Accession Number
20.81.2.177
Tags
Art Historical Context
This etching, created in 1650 by the celebrated Bohemian artist Wenceslaus Hollar, captures a formal visit to Alexander Roelants by Lamoral Claudius Franz, Count of Thurn and Taxis. The scene unfolds before a grand palace, where soldiers on horseback carry flags and weapons, evoking the ceremonial processions common among European nobility in the mid-seventeenth century. Hollar, renowned for his meticulous topographical and documentary style, rendered the event with remarkable precision, highlighting the architectural details of the palace alongside the lively military entourage. Executed as ...
About the Artist
Wenceslaus Hollar|Lamoral Claudius Franz, Count of Thurn and Taxis|Alexander Roelants · 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...