Winter
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 25 × 17.8 cm (9 7/8 × 7 1/16 in.); Sheet: 25.2 × 18.5 cm (9 15/16 × 7 5/16 in.)
Classification
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
94614
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Wenceslaus Hollar was born in Bohemia and, at the height of his career, enjoyed the patronage of the Earl of Arundel. He is famous for his lifelike rendering of fur and his panoramic views of London. His steady, complex etched lines create the illusion of natural light on a gown or over a cityscape. The fashionably clad women in this series represent the four seasons. Each caption advises the viewer to protect her beauty against the climate. Winter, for example, depicts two fur muffs and a mask ...
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...