The Four Seasons series

Strasbourg had become a bastion of Protestantism at the start of the 17th century and the town enjoyed a reputation for open-mindedness in the eyes of political and religious exiles. It thus attracted engravers and foreign publishers, one of whom, Jacob van der Heyden, soon established himself as the most important publisher in the city. He thus commissioned a young artist passing through Strasbourg in 1629 to make several series of engravings on the seasons. This artist of Czech origin, Wenzel Hollar, was to become one of the most productive engravers of the 17th century.

The Strasbourg Four Seasons series is the most famous of the works done in the few weeks Hollar spent in Strasbourg. The artist depicts emblematic sites of the inhabitants' favourite seasonal activities including the Old Customs House, the Covered Bridges and Franciscans' Square, now Place Kléber.