1660 Hollar View of Jerusalem at the time of the First Temple

A spectacularly engraved large-scale 1660 Wenceslaus Hollar bird's-eye of Jerusalem during the period of the Solomon's Temple. The view is based upon the 1604 writings and drawings of Juan Bautista Villalpando (Villalpandus; 1552 - 1608), a Spanish Jesuit of Sephardic ancestry. The work, although mostly imaginary, proved highly influential.

A Closer Look

The view looks westward on the walled city of Jerusalem from the heights of Gethsemene, with the Valley of Josaphat in the foreground. Temple Mount, with the colonnaded Temple of Solomon on an enormous masonry base, bearing a decidedly European flair, occupies center field, with Solomon's Palace just to the south (left). The background is dominated by the Mountain Zion, with the City of David and David's Palace identified. A key in the upper right notes 55 landmarks, buildings, and monuments. Much of the ancillary architectures more closely resembles 17th century European cities, although with more domes, than anything then extent in Jerusalem. The Tomb of Absalom, however, in the lower left, is remarkably true to form. The whole is surrounded by red-ruled borders, as is common to most examples.

Villalpando's Jerusalem

Villalpando's Jerusalem was a combination of fact and fantasy. It is particularly noteworthy for his imaginative recreation of Solomon's Temple. He believed that the Temple could be conceptually reconstructed based upon the laws of geometry, which he argued were laid down directly by God, via the prophet Ezekiel, and so unchanging and inviolate. Curiously, Villalpando's designs for the Temple, and may other buildings in Jerusalem, closely resemble Spanish architecture of his period, particularly the work of his mentor Juan de Herrera, whose designed incorporated quadratic inner courtyards and risalits - as here. Although Villalpando's Biblical interpretations earned him the ire of the Inquisition, it proved highly influential in the construction of multiple monasteries and other religious buildings, as well as theoretical depictions of Jerusalem (and Solomons Temple) as here, the construction of some European synagogues, and even 19th century Masonic literature.

Publication History and Census

The source publication is unclear, and the piece may have been issued separately. In his Descriptive Catalogue of the Etched Work of Wenceslaus Hollar (Cambridge, 1982), Richard Pennington states the view was originally included in John Field's 1660 Restoration Bible (Cambridge). It does not however, appear in any known example of this publication. It is rare, we note an example appeared at Christies in 2017, where it sold for about 11000 USD. We were able to trace 2 further examples in private hands. OCLC records 2 institutional holdings. A further holding is known at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.