Wenzel Hollar’s etching, “Mechlin”, c1643

Wenzel Hollar (aka Wenceslaus Hollar; Václav Hollar) (1607–77)

“Mechlin”, c1643, from the series of ten views in Bohemia, Germany and England, “Prospectus aliquot locorum in diuersis provincijs” (New Hollstein 454–63; Pennington 727–38). The curator of the BM advises that the series was “put together as a set by Parthey following George Vertue (III. 120–31)” (see BM no. Q,4.311).

Etching on laid paper with thread margins

Size: (sheet) 8.5 x 13 cm

Inscribed within image at upper left "zu Hemsen beÿ Mechelen".

State i (of ii) before diagonals were added to the shaded side of the mill on the right and the house on the left.

Pennington (2002) 729; New Hollstein (German) 1818.1 (Hollar)

Richard Pennington (2002) offers the following description of this print in “A descriptive catalogue of the etched work of Wenceslaus Hollar 1607–1677”, Cambridge University Press:

“A road in a village crosses a mill-stream by a wooden bridge on which two gentlemen are riding. A gabled mill on r. with a man carrying a sack. On extreme r. a pollarded tree and on extreme l. the end of a house. Unsigned.” (p. 125)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Mechlin / Mechelen; man carrying sack over his shoulders seen from behind walking along road, gabled house at right and willow tree in the foreground.”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1502917&partId=1&searchText=hollar+mechlin&page=1)

Condition: crisp impression with thread margins and with signs of slight wear to the plate around the area featuring the pollarded tree.

I am selling this exquisite rendered and graphically strong etching by one of the greatest printmakers of history, for the total cost of AU$221 (currently US$173.65/EUR148.05/GBP129.53 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this rare and very beautiful etching, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

One has only to look at Hollar’s meticulously detailed etchings to appreciate that he had a strong understanding about the technical intricacies of architecture and how the correct angle of light falling on a building (usually from the top-front-left) can enhance a viewer’s understanding of the building’s form and structure. From a personal standpoint, however, the graphic strength of this small but visually engaging image is not so much that I can count every tile on the roofs, but rather its strength is all about the juxtaposed arrangement of three-dimensionally solid and somewhat sanitised rendered buildings with what I will describe as “soft” forms of trees and village folk going about their everyday business.