baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
printmaker
Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...
and
draftsman
A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British and Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman or drafting technician in American and Canadian English) is an engineering technician who makes detailed technical drawings or plans for ...
from the
Duchy of Lorraine
The Duchy of Lorraine (french: Lorraine ; german: Lothringen ), originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. Its capital was Nancy.
It was founded in 959 following th ...
(an independent state on the north-eastern border of France, southwestern border of Germany and overlapping the southern Netherlands). He is an important person in the development of the
old master print
An old master print is a work of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition. The term remains current in the art trade, and there is no easy alternative in English to distinguish the works of "fine art" produced in printmak ...
. He made more than 1,400
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
s that chronicled the life of his period, featuring soldiers, clowns, drunkards, Gypsies, beggars, as well as court life. He also etched many religious and military images, and many prints featured extensive landscapes in their background.
Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...
, now in France. He came from an important family (his father was master of ceremonies at the court of the Duke), and he often describes himself as having noble status in the inscriptions to his prints. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to a
goldsmith
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...
, but soon afterward travelled to Rome where he learned
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...
from an expatriate Frenchman, Philippe Thomassin. He probably then studied
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
with
Antonio Tempesta
Antonio Tempesta, also called il Tempestino (1555 – 5 August 1630), was an Italian painter and engraver, whose art acted as a point of connection between Baroque Rome and the culture of Antwerp. Much of his work depicts major battles and his ...
in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
, where he lived from 1612 to 1621. More than 2,000 preparatory drawings and studies for prints survive, but no paintings by him are known, and he probably never trained as a painter.
During his period in Florence he became an independent master, and worked often for the
Medici
The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...
court. After the death of
Cosimo II de' Medici
Cosimo II de' Medici (12 May 1590 – 28 February 1621) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1609 until his death. He was the elder son of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Christina of Lorraine.
For the majority of his twelve-ye ...
during 1621, he returned to Nancy where he lived for the rest of his life, visiting Paris and the Netherlands later during the decade. He was commissioned by the courts of Lorraine, France and Spain, and by publishers, mostly in Paris. Although he remained in Nancy, his prints were distributed widely through Europe;
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally cons ...
was a keen collector of them.
Technical innovations: échoppe, new hard ground, stopping-out
His technique was exceptional, and was helped by important technical advances he made. He developed the échoppe, a type of etching-needle with a slanting oval section at the end, which enabled etchers to create a swelling line, as engravers were able to do.
He also seems to have been responsible for an improved recipe for the etching ground that coated the plate and was removed to form the image, using
lute
A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...
-makers
varnish
Varnish is a clear transparent hard protective coating or film. It is not a stain. It usually has a yellowish shade from the manufacturing process and materials used, but it may also be pigmented as desired, and is sold commercially in variou ...
rather than a wax-based formula. This enabled lines to be etched more deeply, prolonging the life of the plate in printing, and also greatly reducing the risk of "foul-biting", such that acid gets through the ground to the plate where it is not intended to, producing spots or blotches on the image. Previously the risk of foul-biting had always been present, preventing an engraver from investing too much time on a single plate that risked being ruined by foul-biting. Now etchers could do the very detailed work that was previously the monopoly of engravers, and Callot made good use of the new possibilities.
He also made more extensive and sophisticated use of multiple "stoppings-out" than previous etchers had done. This is the technique of letting the acid dissolve lightly over the whole plate, then stopping-out those parts of the work which the artist wishes to keep shallow by covering them with ground before bathing the plate in acid again. He achieved unprecedented subtlety in effects of distance and light and shade by careful control of this process. Most of his prints were relatively small – as much as about six inches or 15 cm on their longest dimension.
One of his devotees, the Parisian
Les Grandes Misères de la guerre
''Les Grandes Misères de la guerre'' (; English: ''The Great Miseries of War'' or ''The Miseries and Misfortunes of War'') are a series of 18 etchings by French artist Jacques Callot (1592–1635), titled in full ''Les Misères et les Malheurs d ...
'', consisting of 18 prints published during 1633, and the earlier and incomplete ''Les Petites Misères'' – referring to their sizes, large and small (though even the large set are only about 8 x 13 cm). These images show soldiers pillaging and burning their way through towns, country and convents, before being variously arrested and executed by their superiors, lynched by peasants, or surviving to live as crippled beggars. At the end the generals are rewarded by their monarch. During 1633, the year the larger set was published, Lorraine had been invaded by the French during the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...
and Callot's artwork is still noted with
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish Romanticism, romantic painter and Printmaking, printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His p ...
's ''
Los Desastres de la Guerra
''The Disasters of War'' ( es, Los desastres de la guerra) is a series of 8280 prints in the first published edition (1863), for which the last two plates were not available. See "Execution". prints created between 1810 and 1820 by the Spani ...
'' (''The Disasters of War''), which was influenced by Callot – (Goya owned a series of the prints), as among the most powerful artistic statements of the inhumanity of war.
Grotesque Dwarves
Callot's series of "Grotesque Dwarves" were to inspire
Derby porcelain
The production of Derby porcelain dates from the second half of the 18th century, although the authorship and the exact start of the production remains today as a matter of conjecture. The oldest remaining pieces in the late 19th century bore onl ...
and other companies to create pottery figures known as "Mansion House Dwarves" or "Grotesque Dwarves". The former title comes from a father and son who were paid to wander around the Mansion House in London wearing oversized hats that contained advertisements.
Varie Figure Gobbi – Series of 21 etchings, 1616
1620 Callot Varie Figure Gobbi anagoria.JPG, Varie Figure Gobbi, Städelsches Kunstinstitut
1620 Callot Der Maskierte mit verdrehten Beinen anagoria.JPG, Masked Dwarf with Contorted Legs
1620 Callot Zwergkrüppel mit Kapuze anagoria.JPG, Crippled Dwarf with Hood
1620 Callot Der Zwerg mit dem dicken Bauch anagoria.JPG, The Fat Dwarf
1620 Callot Der Zwerg mit dem Buckel anagoria.JPG, The Hunchbacked Dwarf
1620 Callot Zwerg mit Hängebauch und hohem Hut anagoria.JPG, The Potbellied Dwarf with the Tall Hat
1620 Callot Zwerg mit Violine anagoria.JPG, Dwarf with Violin
Jacques Callot V.jpg, Example of Jacques Callot's work.
Other notable works
* A large series depicting ''
commedia dell'arte
(; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Charact ...
'' figures called ''Balli di Sfessania'', in a simple,
caricature
A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...
-like style, from his years in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
.
* Series on the Lives of Christ and Mary.
* Series on the story of the Prodigal Son.
* ''The Giant Tifeo beneath Mount Ischia'' (1617).
* ''The Fair at
Impruneta
Impruneta is a town and '' comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany. The population is about 15,000.
Name and production
The name Impruneta is derived from ''inprunetis'' meaning "within the pine woods", and ...
'' (1620).
* ''The Fair at Gondreville'' (1624).
* ''The Temptation of St Anthony'' (1635, Fitzwillaim Museum ''Temptation of Saint Anthony''
Notes
References
*A Hyatt Mayor, Prints and People, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Princeton, 1971, nos 455–460..
*DP Becker in KL Spangeberg (ed), Six Centuries of Master Prints, Cincinnati Art Museum, 1993, no 74 (Large Miseries of War), .