View of St. Mary Overs (St. Mary Overy)

Wenceslaus Hollar (Czech: Václav Hollar (Czech pronunciation: [ˈvaːtslaf ˈɦolar]), German: Wenzel Hollar; 13 July 1607 – 25 March 1677) was a Czech engraver, etcher and painter. He spent much of his life in England. He often created cityscapes and landscapes, including vedutas. He was born in Prague, died in London, and was buried at St Margaret's Church, Westminster.

Václav Hollar was born on 13 July 1607 in Prague, Bohemia. After his family was financially ruined by the Sack of Prague in the Thirty Years' War, the young Hollar, who had been destined for the legal profession, decided to become an artist. The earliest of his works that have come down to us are dated 1625 and 1626; they are small plates, and one of them is a copy of a "Virgin and Child" by Dürer, whose influence upon Hollar's work was always great.

In 1627 he was in Frankfurt where he was apprenticed to the renowned engraver Matthäus Merian. In 1630 he lived in Strasbourg, Mainz and Koblenz, where he portrayed the towns, castles, and landscapes of the Middle Rhine Valley. In 1633 he moved to Cologne.