Zeegezicht vanaf de kust 1627 - 1636

Wenceslaus Hollar created this etching of a seascape from the coast. He was born in Prague, Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, and much of his life was defined by the religious and political conflicts of the Thirty Years' War. In this work, we see the sea rendered as a series of turbulent waves, and a few ships sailing on the horizon. Hollar's seascapes reflect the Dutch maritime power of the 17th century, but also the precarity of life and trade dependent on the sea. It also reflects the expansionist ambitions of the various European empires at the time. What might it have been like to travel the world on one of these ships? Were you a merchant, a sailor, a colonist, or perhaps a slave? Hollar invites us to contemplate our place in this vast world, and the emotional resonance of the sea that both connects and divides us.