Apr 18, 2024 - Sale 2666

Sale 2666 - Lot 171

Unsold
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
WENZEL HOLLAR
Theatrum Mulierum.

Complete set of 48 etchings and etched title page, 1643. Each approximately 95x62 mm; 3¾x2½ inches, full margins. Very good impressions, extremely scarce as a complete set.

Provenance: Otto Schäfer, Schweinfurt, with the ink stamp on the title page verso (Lugt 5881).

Born in Prague, Hollar (1607-1677) worked as an etcher in various German towns during the early 1630's before eventually landing in London in December 1636 under the employ of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, the preeminent British connoisseur, art collector and courtier during the reigns of King James I and King Charles I. Hollar would work in Antwerp and London for the rest of his career. Though he completed approximately 2,700 etchings, and was at one point appointed 'Royal Scenographer' by King Charles II, Hollar's fortune was tumultuous; his career marked by political upheaval, the 1665 plague, and the Great Fire of London in 1666. Parthey 1804 ff.