Wenceslaus Hollar
St Mary Overy, Southwark

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
- St Mary Overy, Southwark
- Artist/creator
- Production date
- 1647
- Medium
- etching
- Dimensions
- 149 x 259 mm
- Credit line
- Mackelvie Trust Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, bequest of Dr Walter Auburn, 1982
- Accession no
- M1982/1/3/91
- Other ID
- 910 Pennington Catalogue Raisonné
- Copyright
- No known copyright restrictions
- Department
- International Art
- Display status
- Not on display
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