Artist: Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–1677).
Title: Aestas - Summer.
Inscription: Lettered with two columns with title and verses in four lines in Latin and English: "AESTAS / Lenes æstivi ZEPHYRI ... levare solent" and "SVMMER / In Summer when wee ... depell the heate". Signed below towards right in design: "W. Hollar inu: 1641".
Dimensions: Sheet 9 1/2" x 6 3/4". Backing sheet 14 1/8" x 10 1/8".
Publisher: John McCreery, English publisher and printer (1768-1832).
Edition: A Collection of Original Etchings. Published by McCreery. London, 1816. The original copper plates were believed to have been destroyed after this publication.
Date: 1816 (published).
Materials and Techniques: etching on a thin, lightweight wove paper printed without margins. Mounted on the same paper as other McCreery prints and presumably taken from the same volume because of the same three sides’ gilded edges and matching size.
Mat and Frame: adhered to backing paper at corners.
Provenance: The Estate of George "Yorgo" Demetrakopoulos; professor, assistant director of the Medieval Institute, and assistant to the dean at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, from 1965-2000.
Condition: Scattered spotting, tears to margins. The signs of aging are appropriate for the time. A detailed condition report is available on demand.
Museums and Libraries: The Metropolitan Museum of Art 47.100.513.
Art Movements, Periods & Schools: English School XVII C.
Note: This entry incorporates text from the catalog of the same item from The Metropolitan Museum of Art collection.