| Method | Etching |
| Artist | Wenceslaus Hollar |
| Published | 1641 |
| Dimensions | Images 220 x 171 mm, Plates 247 x 175 mm, Sheets 250 x 180 mm |
| Notes |
Between 1641 and 1644 Hollar made no less than three sets of the seasons shown as women in fashionable dress, with anonymous erotic verses below. This is the earliest of the sets, featuring three-quarter length figures in an interior setting, wearing muffs against the cold or veils against the sun, and presenting seasonal flowers or fruit. Although of vastly higher quality, they relate closely to the sets of allegorical female figures by George Glover and others. Inscriptions in two columns, in Latin and English: "VER Iam decessit Hyems ... ora venusta decet / SPRING Ffurs fare you well ... we must not hide" "AESTAS Lenes æstivi ZEPHYRI ... flabra le vare solent / SVMMER In Sumer when wee ... depell the heate" "AVTVMNVS Convenere simul iam nostra ... veste vel igne cales / AVTVMNE Our joy and sorrow ... like mee you kepe it out" "HYEMS Cum deformis Hyems ... claro MVLCIBER igne tuo / WINTER Thus against winter ... not with sword but fire" Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) left his native Prague in 1627. He spent several years travelling and working in Germany before his patron, the Earl of Arundel brought him to London in 1636. During the civil wars, Hollar fought on the Royalist side, after which he spent the years 1644-1652 in Antwerp. Hollar's views of London form an important record of the city before the Great Fire of 1666. He was prolific and engraved a wide range of subjects, producing nearly 2,800 prints, numerous watercolours and many drawings. Pennington, Spring 610 iv/iv, Summer 611 ii/ii, Autumn 612 i/ii, Winter 613 i/ii; New Hollstein, Hollar, II, 332-335, Spring iv/iv, Summer ii/ii, Autumn i/ii, Winter i/ii; Antony Griffiths, 'The Print in Stuart Britain', BM 1998, 66. Condition: Strong impressions, especially on the two earlier states, with slight overall time toning and foxing. Trimmed outside the plates. Framed in period style frames. |
| Framing | framed |
| Price | £2,250.00 |
| Stock ID | 46005 |