It’s strange how much of our visual knowledge of what mid-17thc England was like comes through the work of non-English artists, like Van Dyke and Wenceslaus Hollar. Whereas most people have heard of Van Dyke I’m not so sure if the same is true of Hollar. This is partly because Van Dyke painted large flashy canvases portraying the court and aristocratic world before the Civil War whereas Hollar usually worked on a miniature scale. Yet he created prints and drawings of amazing accuracy and detail even if they require careful study to appreciate his talent. His work also required great technical skill but, because printmaking smacks of artisanry rather than artistry, it has traditionally been considered a lesser art form.
However Hollar was the greatest engraver and print maker of the 17thc, indeed, arguably amongst the greatest of all time, and his work tells its own story. His range of interests and output was vast, and about 400 drawings 3000 different etchings and many sketches and watercolours also survive. Between them they provide an amazing insight into 17thc life.
Todays’ post is a look at some of his fashion prints, particularly a series of four full length figures he produced in 1643 and 1644, one for each season, and before you wonder why it sounds as if I’m intending to tell you about 17thc women’s clothes on a garden history blog take a look at the backgrounds…
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The first person to attempt an inventory of its natural history was William Burchell, a Londoner, who emigrated there in the early 19thc and tried to establish a botanic garden, before moving on to South Africa and becoming probably “the most prolific collector of botanical and zoological specimens” the world had then known.
The Garden History Blog 
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