Pen drawing. 15½ by 5¼ in.
Rare example of Hollar’s pen-work, unfinished. The point of view is
about that of the “King’s Bridge,” Westminster. In the distance old
St. Paul’s is faintly pencilled. Signature on a plank to the left.
Wenceslaus Hollar, born at Prague, was brought to England by the
Earl of Arundel in 1637, and worked under his patronage for years.
In the Civil War he served under the Marquess of Winchester, and was
taken prisoner at Basing House, but escaped to Antwerp. He afterwards
returned, was appointed designer to the King, and spent the rest
of his life here with an interval when he was sent by Charles II to
Tangiers. A most industrious artist, we owe to him many fine etchings
of London; died in poverty.
By W. HOLLAR (1607-1677).
_Lent by H.M. the King._