Artwork Information

Al-Rashīd was the Moroccan sultan to whom Charles II sent his embassy, vainly hoping to negotiate terms for peace and trade that would secure Tangier’s future. The king’s ambassador never met Al-Rashīd and the embassy was a failure. As Al-Rashīd did not visit Tangier during Hollar’s time there this portrait cannot be ‘from the life’. As he signed this print only fecit (made it) and not delineavit (drew it), Hollar may have copied another print or someone else’s drawing to make this etching.