Václav (Wenceslas) Hollar was born July 13, 1607, in Prague, died March 28, 1677, in London, was a Czech drawer and engraver who lived abroad since 1627 and illustrated nearly forty book publications, is the author of free graphic art represented by about 2,700 engravings (one of the biggest collections in the world is owned by Prague Hollareum in the National Gallery in Prague). His artwork is characteristic by perfectness of the drawings, by gentle technique and by the absence of baroque pathos.
Hollar started his career in 1627 in Merian´s workshop in Frankfurt am Mein where he contributed to topographic works, since 1630 lived in Köln am Rhein by the Hogenberg family. In 1636 he travelled through Germany, Austria and Hungary, thus accompanying Thomas Arundel, the ambassador of Karl I. Those travels gave him inspiration for a number of engravings of topographical character, among others let us mention a model of the famous three-piece view of Prague from the Petřín Hill which was placed in Merian-Zeiller´s work Topographia Bohemiae, Moraviae et Silesiae. After his arrival to London he worked for his maecenas Thomas Arundel processing and organizing his huge collections; at that time he created a number of portraits, maps and veduts - let us not forget to name his unforgettable furs or other natural materials.
Between 1644 and 1652 the artist lived in Antwerp and later, until his death, in London. Financial troubles caused his rich illustration activity (Complete Vergilius or Aesop’ s Fables).