HOLLAR (Wenceslaus), a celebrated engraver, born at Prague, in 1607. He employed himself chiefly in copying portraits; and his delicate little views of many of the cities in Germany, got him such reputation, that the earl of Arundel our ambassador at the Imperial court brought him over to England. Here he executed several plates from the fine Arundelian collection of paintings, engraved many landscapes and views about London, and of London itself, as well before as after the great fire: but it being his fate to work chiefly for printellers and bookellers, in a state of subordination, more for the profit of his employers than for himself; so he could not even in his old age keep clear of the encumbrances of debt. About the year 1672, he travelled northward, and took views of towns, castles, churches and tombs, that would prove almost endless to enumerate. Few artists have been able to imitate his works, and the lovers of art are always zealous to collect them. It is melancholy to add, that on the verge of his 70th year, he was attacked with an execution at his lodgings in Gardener's lane, Westminster; when he desired only the liberty of dying in his bed, and that he might not be removed to any other prison than the grave: a favour which it is uncertain whether he obtained or not. He died, however, in 1677.—The merits of this artist are thus characterised in the Essay on Prints: "Hollar gives us views of particular places, which he copies with great truth, unornamented, as he found them. If we are satisfied with exact representations, we have them no where better than in Hollar's works: but if we expect pictures, we must seek them elsewhere. Hollar was an antiquarian, and a draughtsman; but seems to have been little acquainted with the principles of painting. Stiffness is his characteristic, and a painful exactness void of taste. His larger views are mere plans. In some of his smaller, at the expence of infinite pains, something of an effect is sometimes produced. But in general, we consider him as a repository of curiosities, a record of antiquated dresses, abolished ceremonies, and edifices now in ruins."