Charles I.

The immensely prolific and talented Czech printmaker Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) was employed as an artist and cataloguer in the household of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, who was one of the greatest art collectors of his era, between 1636 and 1644. The Earl, a victim of the English Civil War, fled overseas and died in 1646; Hollar himself moved with his family to Antwerp in 1644, where this etching would have been made. The return of political stability led to Hollar's return to London in 1652, where he lived and worked until his death.

There can can be little doubt that the artist's own sympathies were strongly with the deceased monarch Charles I, defeated in the Civil War by Cromwell and his Puritan forces, and executed in January 1649. This was during Hollar's Antwerp period. For all his flaws, Charles was second only to his follower Lord Arundel in the culture, depth and genuineness of his art collecting and patronage. The location of Charles’s death, the Banqueting House, Whitehall, is visible on the right, behind his shoulder, while Westminster Abbey and Parliament are on the left. Hollar’s rendition functions as a memorial portrait, and strikes a deliberately sombre and austere note. Note the Garter Star worn by Charles, symbolising the divine right of kings, which the Puritans challenged.

The Latin inscription on the etching indicates that it is based on an existing design, probably a drawing, by Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641). During his lifetime, van Dyck conspicuously avoided Hollar, whom he almost certainly knew since both had worked at Court. This was probably because he wished to exert artistic control and preferred prints that were accurate reproductions of the original drawing or painting in question rather than showing creative autonomy. But by 1649 van Dyck had long since died, and Hollar no doubt saw the attractive commercial possibilities of publishing such a print following the recent, tragic end of Charles I.

See:

Mark Stocker, 'Wenceslaus Hollar: Etching the 17th century', http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/tag/wenceslaus-hollar/

Dr Mark Stocker             Curator, Historical International Art       April 2017