Antwerp Cathedral

The Late Gothic Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp is one of the most majestic structures of its kind. Its architectural history goes back to 1352 and ends in 1630; only one of the two planned towers was built onto the front façade. Throughout his life, Wenceslaus Hollar took an interest in Gothic architecture and in Antwerp, where he lived from 1646 to 1652, he also studied the city’s cathedral. Several drawings with this theme are known, but it was Hollar’s monumental etching from 1649 that earned him widespread recognition. This is one of the artist’s most outstanding artistic achievements. He enhanced the cathedral’s majestic appearance by extending its proportions and reducing the scale of the surrounding buildings and, above all, of the figures.