Antwerp Cathedral

A long religious procession – perhaps bearing holy relics – enters the Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp. While the citizens of Antwerp perform their solemn duty, the good-humoured Hollar distracts our attention with fighting dogs and running children. Completely dominating the surrounding buildings, Hollar has described the elaborate architecture of the great Gothic cathedral in considerable detail. This large and ambitious print reveals his skills as a draftsman and his complete mastery of the etching medium.

Extra inscriptions in Dutch and French were added to the plate in 1678 for a book published in Amsterdam. Like the artist himself, Hollar’s etched plates travelled widely and continued to be used long after his death – sometimes into the 19th century.

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