Václav Hollar ,
known in England as Wenceslaus and in Germany as Wenzel Hollar, was a
Bohemian etcher. He was born in Prague, and died in London, being
buried at St Margaret's Church, Westminster. Hollar, was a Bohemian
exile, in 1636, while working in Cologne
was employed by the Earl of
Arundel as artist-in-residence to make drawings of his extensive art
collection. Some of these drawings are now the only information on the
contents of that impressive collection. In 1642 the Earl of Arundel (
from Wardour Castle , Wilts)left England for the Continent leaving his
wife in charge in Wiltshire , never to return. The turmoil of the civil
war caused Hollar to move to Antwerp in 1644, where he settled for a
few years. The main quantity of his work was done for Dugdale who paid
between £3 and £5 per etching .W. Hollar,from Sir W.
Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum ... (originally published in 3 vols,
London, 1655-1673; enlarged edn, 6 vols in 8 parts, by J. Caley and
others,Wenceslas Hollar (13 July 1607 - 25
March 1677) e. He trained in the workshop of
Merian in Frankfurt, and became one of the foremost engravers of
topographical views in the 17th century. On account of his English
connections, Hollar finally settled in London, and during the Civil War
he fought on the Royalist side. His views of the city of London form an
invaluable record of its appearance before the Great Fire of 1666. He
was very prolific and engraved a wide range of subjects aparts from
views and landscapes.Hollar produced a variety of works; his plates
number approx 2740, and include views, portraits, ships, religious
subjects, heraldic subjects, landscapes, and still life in many forms.
His architectural drawings, such as those of Antwerp and Strassburg
cathedrals, and his views of towns, are to scale, but are intended as
pictures as well.
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ST. KATHERINE'S BY THE TOWER. /Conventualis
Ecclesiae Hospitalis S. Catharinae Juxta Tnrrim London : a Meridie
prospectus
Signed and dated in lower 1.: W. Hollar fecit 1660. Title along the top
: Conventualis Ecclesiae Hospitalis S. Catharinae Juxta Tnrrim London :
a Meridie prospectus. Dedication of the donor of the plate, William
Petit, in cartouche upper r. Page number 4.60 lower r. Occurs folded in
Dugdale, Monasticon, Vol. II. (1661), between pp. 460 and 461. The
Royal Hospital and collegiate church of St. Katherine's, founded by
Eleanor, Queen of Henry II, in 1273, and remaining under the patronage
of the Queen Consort, 1 existed on the same site until 1825. It was
then pulled down to make room for St. Katherine's Dock. The foundation
was transferred to Regent's Park, but there are only a few remains of
the old church in the new St. Katherine's (e.g. part of some of the
stalls). . . . .St Katharine's by the Tower - full name Royal Hospital
and Collegiate Church of St. Katharine by the Tower - was a medieval
church and hospital next to the Tower of London. The establishment was
founded in 1148 and demolished in 1825 to build St Katharine Docks,
which takes its name from it. £65 x 2
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Capellae Collegii Regalis de Eton ab Aquilone Prospectus. / Eton
Etching with engraving on laid watermarked
paper
from Monasticon Anglicanum: or, the History of the Ancient Abbies,
Monasteries, Hospitals, Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, with their
Dependencies, in England and Wales. Hollar had returned to England in
1652 and begun working for the publisher John Ogilby and the antiquary
Sir William Dugdale. Over the next twenty-five years he etched no fewer
than 566 plates for them. Sir William Dugdale (1605-1686):English
antiquary and friend of Hollar's patron Thomas Howard, second earl of
Arundel, Dugdale compiled one of the most significant histories of
English religious houses, , Monasticon, Vol. II. (1661),The text was
written by Roger Dodsworth (1585-1654)He had spent his life in the
study of genealogy and ecclesiastical and monastic history. He was also
an indefatigable collector of manuscripts which are now in the Bodleian
Library. . . (folded) light age toning x 3 £65
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