Superbia

Reference: S36074
Author Jacques CALLOT
Year: 1620 ca.
Measures: 60 x 80 mm
€250.00

Reference: S36074
Author Jacques CALLOT
Year: 1620 ca.
Measures: 60 x 80 mm
€250.00

Description

Pride: female figure, elegantly dressed, walking to right and looking into a mirror; demon hovering over her; peacock at her feet, on the right; on white ground.

Etching, with some engraving, c.1618/25, signed at lower left.

From a series of seven plates representing the deadly sins, Les Péchées Capitaux. According to Felibien, the plates were engraved after Poccetti, but this remain to be confirmed.

The series may have been executed after Callot's return in Nancy, or while he was still in Florence (Meaume, for one, dates it from 1620); some of the figures are indeed reminiscent of the demons in the temptation of St Anthony he engraved during his stay in the Italian city.

A fine impression of the first state before the number, printed on contemporary laid paper, trimmed to the platemark, very good condition.

In the first half of the 17th century, Jacques Callot renewed the language of graphic art by developing and enhancing the potential of etching. Born in Nancy in 1592, he completed his artistic training in Italy, staying in Rome between 1608 and 1611, were he learned to engrave with a burin and established his first contacts with the engraver community. His patron, between 1612 and 1620, was Cosimo II de' Medici, at whose court he earned great renown both as an engraver of refined skill and as a judge of taste and intelligence. The years of his Florentine sojourn were filled with works that cemented his fame. After Cosimo II's death in 1621, Callot returned to Nancy, where he received new illustrious patrons, including the Duke of Lorraine and the Infanta of Spain. His fame was finally cemented with the commission, received through Richelieu, to engrave The Siege of La Rochelle and the Île de Ré for the King of France, Louis XIII. In 1630, he began collaborating with the publisher Israel Henriet in Paris, who edited many of his works. For his inexhaustible inventiveness in subject matter, his technical expertise, and his attention to detail and the minuscule, Callot's work stands as a decisive benchmark for the entire development of European engraving.

Bibliografia

Lieure 1927 / Jacques Callot (354.I); Meaume 1860 / Recherches sur la vie et les ouvrages de Jacques Callot (157.I); 'Jacques Callot' (Nancy, 1992), No.678-684.

Jacques CALLOT (Nancy 1592 - 1635)

He was a baroque graphics artist, draftsman and printmaker from the Duchy of Lorraine (an independant state on the North-Eastern border with France). He made etchings that chronicled the people and the life of his period (soldiers, clowns, drunkards, wanderers, beggars, and various outcasts). These images of people are often contrasted by spectacular landscapes (see, for instance, "The Temptation of St. Anthony"). His skill in shading and his use of different tones were remarkable for the period and he is often compared to Albrecht Dürer.

Jacques CALLOT (Nancy 1592 - 1635)

He was a baroque graphics artist, draftsman and printmaker from the Duchy of Lorraine (an independant state on the North-Eastern border with France). He made etchings that chronicled the people and the life of his period (soldiers, clowns, drunkards, wanderers, beggars, and various outcasts). These images of people are often contrasted by spectacular landscapes (see, for instance, "The Temptation of St. Anthony"). His skill in shading and his use of different tones were remarkable for the period and he is often compared to Albrecht Dürer.