200 Korun Hollar - Association of Czech Graphic Artists

Wenceslaus Hollar left Bohemia in 1627, driven out by the same Counter-Reformation upheaval that reshaped Central Europe after White Mountain. He spent most of his working life in London and Antwerp, becoming one of the most prolific etchers of the seventeenth century — his panoramic view of London before the Great Fire of 1666 remains a primary historical document. The Association of Czech Graphic Artists commissioned this issue to reclaim him as part of Czech artistic heritage, a framing that would have puzzled Hollar himself, who spent fewer than twenty years of his life in Bohemia.