Wenceslaus Hollar

Covent Garden

Covent Garden by Wenceslaus Hollar

Artwork Detail

Hollar’s London still survives in parts and many visitors will recognise the buildings found in these two views of the city. An example of modern town planning, Covent

Garden was a fashionable address when it was built in the 1630s. Not long after Hollar returned to London in 1652 a vegetable market developed in the square and the aristocracy moved elsewhere – replaced by coffee houses, pubs and prostitutes.

Hollar made many drawings of London from the tower of St Mary Overy, ‘over the river’, on the south bank of the River Thames. After the Great Fire of London in 1666 Hollar created a print showing two views from the church tower – one before the fire, and one of the charred ruins.

Title
Covent Garden
Artist/creator
Wenceslaus Hollar
Production date
circa 1647
Medium
etching
Dimensions
145 x 252 mm
Credit line
Mackelvie Trust Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, bequest of Dr Walter Auburn, 1982
Accession no
M1982/1/3/90
Other ID
909 Pennington Catalogue Raisonné
Copyright
No known copyright restrictions
Department
International Art
Display status
Not on display

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