Wenceslaus Hollar
1607-1677
A View of Tangier from the Southeast
ca. 1669
6 1/8 x 24 1/2 inches (157 x 623 mm)
Watercolor and pen and brown ink over black chalk on two joined sheets of paper.
2017.123
Thaw Collection.
Notes
Hollar accompanied an English delegation to the key Moroccan port of Tangier as a royal scenographer charged with making accurate views of the city. Although Portugal had ceded Tangier to England in 1662, the English were unable to wrest control of the city from Sultan al-Rashīd (r. 1664-72). The delegation failed even to negotiate trading rights, but once back in England, the artist made a successful series of etchings of the city based on drawings such as this one. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"
Inscriptions/Markings
Inscribed by the artist, "Tangier from South East / Irish Battery, Charles fort, Peterborough Tower, Upper Castle, Governours house, Yorke Castle, Coast of Spaine, Point of Gibraltar, Cape Malabara, Coast of Barbary / Tariffa / The Mould / Bay of Tangier".
Watermark: Horn with strap inside crowned shield over "4" and letters "WR".
Watermark: Horn with strap inside crowned shield over "4" and letters "WR".
Associated names
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
Bibliography
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 198, repr.
The Thaw collection of master drawings : acquisitions since 2002. New York : Morgan Library & Museum, 2009, no. 11, repr.
The Thaw collection of master drawings : acquisitions since 2002. New York : Morgan Library & Museum, 2009, no. 11, repr.
Artist
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Catalog link
Department