Shell (Murex brandaris)

c. 1645

Wenceslaus Hollar

Associated Names
Wenceslaus Hollar

Artist, Bohemian, 1607 - 1677

The image shows a large seashell with multiple spikes and ridges against a plain textured background. The shell is detailed and colored in various shades of black, gray, and white. It is oriented with its pointed end extending towards the left and its larger, spiky section slightly elevated to the right, centered in the composition.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Hugh Melville Howard [1883-1919], Delgamy (Lugt 1280b); (his sale, Sotheby's, London, 25-26 February 1936, no. 292); Dr. Francis Springell [1898-1974], Portinscale, Keswick, England; (sale, Sotheby's, London, 30 November 1989, lot 109); (Susan Schulman and Carolyn Bullard, New York); purchased by NGA with funds from Edward William Carter and Hannah Locke Carter, 1992.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1992

  • Dürer to Diebenkorn: Recent Acquisitions of Art of Paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1992, no. 20.

1998

  • A Collector's Cabinet, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1998.

2025

  • Little Beasts: Art Wonder and the Natural World, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2025.

Bibliography

1982

  • Pennington, Richard. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Etched Work of Wenceslaus Hollar 1607-1677. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982.

1996

  • The New Hollstein German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts, 1400-1700. (Wenceslaus Hollar, Simon Turner, author). Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1996-, no. 1291, state only.

Inscriptions

recto: none; verso: at bottom right, in graphite, in later hand: P2206

Markings

Hugh Melville Howard [Lugt 1280b]

Watermarks

none

Wikidata ID

Q75118184

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