Fortune thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level H , Case DG, Shelf 11

Fortune

Drawing
ca.1625 (made)
Artist/Maker
Hollar, Wenceslaus (artist)
Place of origin
Prague (drawn)

Drawing in pen and black ink of naked female, standing on a large shell, floating on the sea, and propelled by means of a sail which she holds in her right hand, while supporting a shield with the other. A storm is rising, which causes the wreck of several ships; a promontory is in the distance on the left. Inscribed Vencellaus Hollar in : 1625. The sheet has a ruled margin.


Object details

Category
Drawings
Object type
Drawing
Titles
  • Fortune
  • Sea Goddess
Materials and techniques
Pen and black ink
Pen
Paper
Drawing (Image-Making)
Brief description
Hollar, Wenceslaus; naked female, standing on a large shell, floating on the sea, a promontory is in the distance on the left; Pen and ink; Inscribed 'Vencellaus Hollar in :'
Physical description
Drawing in pen and black ink of naked female, standing on a large shell, floating on the sea, and propelled by means of a sail which she holds in her right hand, while supporting a shield with the other. A storm is rising, which causes the wreck of several ships; a promontory is in the distance on the left. Inscribed Vencellaus Hollar in : 1625. The sheet has a ruled margin.
Dimensions
  • Height: 13.4cm
  • Width: 15.7cm
Inlaid sheet.
Style
Czech School
Marks and inscriptions
  • Inscribed in dark brown ink Vencellaus Hollar in: (This inscription was probably added later)
  • Inscribed in dark brown ink '1625' at bottom centre of sheet (This date was presumably added later)
  • At bottom left the collector's mark of William Esdaile ('WE' in pen and brown ink; Lugt 2617).
  • A separate sheet, now mounted underneath the drawing, was presumably once a backing sheet. This has 'W. Hollar' inscribed in pen at the bottom, with William Esdaile's collector's mark and the date 1835 inscribed in pen and brown ink at bottom left. This suggests that the drawing entered Esdaile's collection in 1835.
Credit line
Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce
Object history
Previously in the collection of William Esdaile (1758-1837). It was probably sold - as one of a group of 9 drawings by Hollar - in part three of the sale of Esdaile's collection held in June 1840 at Christie's (Lugt Ventes V).
Subjects depicted
Nude
Woman
Shell
Sea
Sail
Shield
Ships
Promontory
Bibliographic references
  • DYCE COLLECTION. A Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, Drawings, Engravings, Rings and Miscellaneous Objects Bequeathed by The Reverend Alexander Dyce. London : South Kensington Museum, 1874.
  • Richard Godfrey, Wenceslaus Hollar: A Bohemian Artist in England (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994), no.2, p. 39
  • Richard Godfrey, Wenceslaus Hollar: A Bohemian Artist in England (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994), p. 4
  • Franz Sprinzels, Hollar, Handzeichnungen, beschrieben und herausgegeben von Franz Sprinzels (Wein, Leipzig [etc.]: Verlag Dr. Rolf Passer, ca.1938), no. 83.
  • Michael Wood, In Search of Shakespeare (London 2003), p.325
  • V. Denkstein, Hollar Drawings, 1979, p.24, fig.7
  • Jonathan Bate & Dora Thornton, Shakespeare. Staging the World London: The British Museum, 2012. ISBN: 978-0-7141-2824-5.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
DYCE.371

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Record createdJune 8, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O239698/fortune-drawing-hollar-wenceslaus/
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