View of Orsoy

1650

Wenceslaus Hollar

Associated Names
Wenceslaus Hollar

Artist, Bohemian, 1607 - 1677

The sketch displays a distant landscape from a low vantage point. The horizon line divides the scene towards the lower third, highlighting the sky's vastness. A town's outline, featuring architectural elements like a tall spire, a castle-like structure, and a windmill, is depicted with sparse pencil lines. The technique uses subtle strokes, conveying an understated elegance. The color palette is monochromatic, mostly pale beige and soft gray, creating a calm visual impact that focuses on the town's silhouette in the distance.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and ink over graphite on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Katherine and Alexandra Baer

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 13.2 × 44.4 cm (5 3/16 × 17 1/2 in.)
    mount: 20.5 × 52.1 cm (8 1/16 × 20 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2016.133.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Prosper Henry Lankrink [1628-1692] (Lugt 2090). Dr. Henry Wellesley, Oxford [1791 - 1866]. Sir Bruce S. Ingram, London [1877-1963](Lugt 1405a). (Colnaghi, London, 1966; inv. D27824); Curtis Otto Baer, New Rochelle [1898 - 1976] (Lugt 3366); by descent to Dr. and Mrs. George M. Baer, Atlanta; to their daughters Katherine and Alexandra Baer; gift to NGA, 2016.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1963

  • Wenceslaus Hollar, 1607 - 1677, Drawings, Paintings, and Etchings. City of Manchester Art Gallery, 1963, no. D104.

1985

  • Master Drawings from Titian to Picasso: The Curtis O. Baer Collection. NGA, 1985; Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1985-1986; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 1986; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1986; Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1986; Frederick Wight Gallery, Los Angeles, 1986 - 1987, no. 45 (Eric Zafran).

2010

  • Drawings from the Collection of Curtis O. Baer. Jill Newhouse Gallery, New York, 2010, no. 12 (online cat. by Amy Kurlander).

Bibliography

2017

  • Volrábová, Alena, translated by Linda Leffová. Wenceslaus Hollar, 1607-1677: Drawings, a catalogue raisonné. Prague, 2017: no. II/119.

Inscriptions

upper right in pen and ink: Orsoij 1650; by later hand, lower right in graphite: Lautensack; verso, lower center in blue pencil: Wellesley Colln and below that in graphite: 565-0417; center right in graphite, [illeg.]/ J. B. S. [initials of James Byam Shaw?]; by another hand, lower right in graphite: D27824

Wikidata ID

Q64635086

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