Margaret Griggs (Woman in a fur bonnet, profile to the left)
Original title: Margaret Griggs (Woman in a fur bonnet, profile to the left)
kurzbeschreibung
Wenceslaus Hollar etched Margaret Griggs in profile facing left in 1648. On this small sheet she wears a fur cap and a plain garment, rendered with fine, closely observed detail.
Description
Margaret Griggs faces left, her profile worked out with clean contours and graded shading. The fur cap covers her hair entirely, and a collar sits at the shoulder over the simple dress. Light falls from the side and picks out her features, while the arrangement stays spare and reduced to essentials. Fine strokes and hatching build the monochrome greys, and at the upper right a handwritten note, probably the artist's name and the year, is added.
Context
Hollar, a Bohemian printmaker, was working in England during the Thirty Years' War. By 1648, the year of this portrait, he was already known for his detailed etchings. Nothing further is recorded about Margaret Griggs, which suggests a private person, perhaps from the artist's circle.
Impact
Precise linework and an exact rendering of the features define the sheet. The side lighting gives it an intimate, almost contemplative mood that draws the viewer in close.
Technique
The image was made as an etching, with the lines bitten into a prepared plate. Hollar used fine hatching to gain shading and depth, a method typical of him. The small format of roughly 7.2 × 5 cm demanded especially careful handling of the tool.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)