Curtis_O_Baer_2010

12. Wenzel Hollar Czech, 1607 – 1677

View of Orsoy 1636 or 1650

Pen and ink over pencil 5 3 ⁄ 8 x 17 1 ⁄ 2

inches ( 13 . 6 x 44 . 4 cm) Inscribed in pen in the sky: Orsoy 1650 ; in pencil in the sky by a later hand: Lautensack Collector’s mark of P. H. Lankrink lower right, Lugt: 2090 provenance Collection P.H. Lankrink ( 1628 – 1692 ); Dr. H. Wellesley; Sir Bruce Ingram: with Colnaghi’s, London, 1966 ; Collection Curtis O. Baer exhibitions Manchester, City of Manchester Art Gallery, Wenceslaus Hollar, 1607–77, Drawings, Paintings, and Etchings , 1963 ; Atlanta, 1985 , cat. no. 45 , p. 86 Hollar was trained as a map maker and miniaturist but after leaving his native Prague in 1627 , he became best known as a topographical artist. The Baer drawing depicts the fortress town of Orsoy on the Rhine River near Dusseldorf and was made on the return of Arundel expedition in December 1636 when Hollar’s ship, according to contempo rary account,. was forced to drop anchor, giving him time to make a drawing. The town of Orsoy was razed by French forces in 1672 so the drawing is of importance both artistically and historically. The drawing was probably done in pencil on the spot and highlighted by the artist in ink at a later date.