Woman with a bound tress of hair in profile to right
Medium
Etching; only state
Dimensions
Plate: 2 3/4 × 2 3/16 in. (7 × 5.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917
Accession Number
17.50.18-36
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the delicate etching *Woman with a Bound Tress of Hair in Profile Right* (1645), Wenceslaus Hollar captures the poised elegance of an unnamed woman in strict profile, her hair neatly bound in a tress that draws the eye to the intricate folds of her attire. This intimate 2¾ × 2⅛-inch plate, executed in etching—a technique Hollar mastered by drawing directly onto a copper plate with acid-resistant ground—showcases his renowned precision and sensitivity to texture. As the only known state, it represents a singular impression from his prolific output, emphasizing the rarity of such small-scale ...
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...