Long View of London from Bankside
Long View of London from Bankside is a panoramic
Background
Hollar was born in
Lord Arundel was a
The work was etched on six plates, with the two ends printed from a single plate so the impression must be cut in half to assemble the full panorama. Each print measures about 18 inches (46 cm) by 15 inches (38 cm), so the assembled work is about 9 feet (2.7 m) long. The prints were published by Cornelis Danckerts.
The panorama includes, from left to right, on the north bank, on the first plate, the
The view is not entirely accurate, with some alignments adjusted for aesthetic effect. For example, St Paul's Cathedral is depicted too far west, and St Olave's in line with the Tower. Hollar's dependence on old drawings is demonstrated by the presence of the Globe Theatre (mislabelled as "Beere bayting", that is the Beargarden) in a print made three years after it was demolished. Copying an error in the 1616 Visscher panorama, the round theatre labelled "The Globe" is actually the Hope). The Swan and the Rose theatres had fallen into disuse by the 1630s.
Various decorative elements are arranged around the scene. To the lower left of the first plate is a symbolic figure representing the law (with a sword) above a dedication to Princess Mary,[1] daughter of King Charles I, and a poem to "Nympha Britannorum", with an inset panel denoted with an asterisk continuing the panorama to the left past Westminster Hall and Westminster Abbey; overhead are three cherubs, one wearing a lion skin. The second plate has three cherubs in the sky with a pile of books, and one bearing aloft a caduceus. Above St Paul's in the third plate is a figure of Mercury in Roman costume, with winged boots and hat, holding a caduceus. The central fourth plate has a large decorative cartouche with the word "LONDON" with the arms of the City of London and lion supporters. A winged figure, possibly Fame, blows a trumpet at the top of the fifth plate. The sixth plate has three more cherubs, carrying a chain, a crown, a jewel chest, and a bird. The seventh plate has a river god above a 34 line Latin poem by Edward Benlowes, with another cherub in the sky above, dressed as an American Indian and leading with an ostrich.
Hollar's panorama was preceded by the Visscher panorama of 1616, which straightens out the river so buildings on each bank are displayed in a line, and John Norden's Civitas Londini of 1600, both of which are composite drawings made from a variety of different viewpoints. Hollar published another panorama of London and Westminster in 1666, showing views of the city from Lambeth "before" and "after" Great Fire of London.
Two of Hollar's preliminary sketches were sold at Sotheby's in 1931, and are now held by the Yale Center for British Art.
A 1661 reprint by Justus Danckerts has a few changes, with a
References
- ISBN 9780859550147.
- A Descriptive Catalogue of the Etched Work of Wenceslaus Hollar 1607-1677, Richard Pennington], p. 175-6
- "A New Hollar Panorama of London", John Orrell, The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 124, No. 953 (Aug., 1982), pp. 498–499 and 501-502
- Lithographed copy of Wenceslaus Hollar's 1647 Long View of London, by Robert Martin, 1832, Museum of London
- The Prospect of London and Westminster taken from Lambeth by W Hollar, c.1647, British Museum
- London [the long view], British Museum
- Sheet 1 and 7, 1864,0813.331, British Museum
- Sheet 2, 1864,0611.434 British Museum
- Sheet 3, 1864,0611.435 British Museum
- Sheet 4, 1864,0611.436 British Museum
- Sheet 5, 1864,0611.437 British Museum
- Sheet 6, 1864,0611.438 British Museum
- View from Southwark Cathedral, c.1666, Museum of London
- A true and exact propect of the famous citty of London ... before the fire [and] ... after the sad calamitie [sic], British Museum
- Out of the shadows, Veronica Horwell on Gillian Tindall's life of the elusive artist Wenceslaus Hollar, The Man Who Drew London, The Guardian, 19 October 2002
- After Wenceslaus Hollar A Panoramic View of London in 1647, and other views of London, 29 September 2010
- A View from St. Mary's, Southwark, Looking Towards Westminster, The Yale Center for British Art
- View of the East Part of Southwark, Looking Towards Greenwich, The Yale Center for British Art
Further reading
- R. Godfrey, 'Wenceslaus Hollar: A Bohemian Artist in England', New Haven and London, 1994, nos.62-64.