Zu Düren, from "European Views"
Medium
Etching; first state of two
Dimensions
Sheet: 3 1/4 × 5 1/16 in. (8.3 × 12.8 cm) Trimmed on and just within the platemark
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917
Accession Number
17.50.17-412
Tags
Art Historical Context
Wenceslaus Hollar's *Zu Düren*, from his series *European Views* (1664), offers a delicate etched glimpse of the German town of Düren, nestled amid rolling landscapes and framed by sturdy castles. This intimate print, measuring just over 3 by 5 inches, captures the architectural charm and natural beauty of 17th-century Europe, evoking a sense of wanderlust for viewers today. Hollar, a Bohemian-born master etcher who worked across England, Antwerp, and beyond, was renowned for his topographical precision, documenting cities, castles, and countrysides with meticulous detail. As a first-state et...
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...