Five Heads 1644 - 1652

Wenceslaus Hollar made this etching of Five Heads some time in the mid-seventeenth century. It’s based on drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, but what makes this print interesting to me is the way it takes those Renaissance images and transforms them for a different European context. Hollar was working in England during a time of considerable political and social upheaval, and was part of the artistic circle around the Earl of Arundel. He used etching to reproduce artworks for a wider audience, and to record aspects of the social and political landscape. This image speaks to the way artists used the art of the past in response to the conditions of the present. Hollar may have seen something in Leonardo’s grotesque heads that resonated with the anxieties of his own time. Looking at Hollar's wider body of work and the cultural institutions with which he was associated helps us understand the social and political forces that shaped his art.