Hyems - Winter
Medium
Etching; second state of two
Dimensions
Sheet: 9 3/4 × 6 15/16 in. (24.7 × 17.6 cm) cut outside image but within platemark
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1947
Accession Number
47.100.516
Tags
Art Historical Context
Wenceslaus Hollar's *Hyems - Winter* (1641) captures the essence of the coldest season through a delicate etching, personifying it as a woman wrapped in furs and evoking the austerity of winter. Created during Hollar's time in London—after fleeing religious strife in his native Bohemia—this print reflects the artist's mastery of intricate detail, honed while working for King Charles I amid the brewing English Civil War. As part of a series allegorizing the Four Seasons, it draws on classical motifs, blending everyday realism with symbolic elegance to make the seasons relatable and timeless. H...
About the Artist
Wenceslaus Hollar · 1607–1677
Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) was a prolific Bohemian etcher who became one of the most accomplished printmakers of the seventeenth century. Born in Prague, he trained under Matthäus Merian in Frankfurt before entering the service of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, in 1636. Hollar spent most of his career in England, where he produced approximately 2,740 etchings documenting an extraordinary range...