Muff, Handkerchief, and Mask
Wenceslaus Hollar
1642 · Etching and engraving · Drawings and Prints
This small, exquisite still life is one of several etched by Hollar featuring fur muffs. The peripatetic Bohemian printmaker made this piece during his first stay in England in the early 1640s, when he was in the employ of the Earl of Arundel. Hollar’s seductive and highly original image suggests the nearby presence of a fashionable woman who has discarded her luxurious accessories after coming inside from the cold. The fine lines of etching and touches of engraving that express the prickly softness of the fur wore down quickly as Hollar’s copperplates were printed, so rich impressions such as this one are rare.
- Artist
- Wenceslaus Hollar
- Date
- 1642
- Medium
- Etching and engraving
- Department
- Drawings and Prints
- Credit line
- Gift of Barbara Fox, from the Collection of Howard A. Fox, MD, and Barbara E. Fox, in celebration of the Museum's 150th Anniversary, 2020