In a period of prolonged social and political upheaval, the itinerant Bohemian printmaker Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–1677) became one of the most significant artists of the 17th century. A quiet observer of life who took pleasure in the beauty of small and unremarked upon things, Hollar’s art is almost entirely free of the tensions that divided so many European societies in his time.

Author: Mathew Norman.