The Seasons: Spring (1643–44): Art, History and Details

The Seasons: Spring (1643–44) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Wenceslaus Hollar (Bohemian, 1607–1677).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Increments of time, such as the seasons, were one of the most popular subjects for printed sets. Wenceslaus Hollar alone made six different versions. Hollar was a professional printmaker with over 3,000 prints to his credit. Born in Bohemia, he worked in Germany, London, and Antwerp. He came to London in 1636 while in the employ of the Earl of Arundel, an important collector that Hollar met in Germany. Apparently free to pursue independent projects, Hollar designed and etched this series around 1643–44. Here, each season is personified by elegantly clad ladies, appropriately dressed for their particular climate, with recognizable landmarks in and around London in the backgrounds. The inscriptions, in an older version of English, are slightly suggestive, in keeping with the lighthearted character of the imagery. The inscription reads: "Welcome sweet Lady you do bring / Rich presents of a hopeful Spring / That makes the Earth to look so green / As when she first began to teem."

Object facts

• Title: The Seasons: Spring
• Date: 1643–44
• Creator attribution: Wenceslaus Hollar (Bohemian, 1607–1677)
• Culture: Bohemia
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1959.317.1

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.