Jacques Callot was a baroque printmaker and draftsman from the Duchy of Lorraine.
Background
Jacques was born in 1592 in Nancy, Lorraine, 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.
Career
He early discovered a very strong predilection for art, and at the age of twelve quitted home without his father's consent, and set out for Rome where he intended to prosecute his studies.
Two years after this, and when only fourteen years old, he again left France contrary to the wishes of his friends, and reached Turin before he was overtaken by his elder brother, who had been despatched in quest of him.
From 1608 to 1621 he passed his apprenticeship in Florence and Rome.
Combining the pointed elegance of mannerism with his own cold intensity, he worked out a new style and a new technique of hard-ground etching admirably suited to portray the new fields of subject matter that he explored.
His plates of the Commedia dell' Arte, gypsies, court of manners of Lorraine, or the incidental bestialities of war are characteristic of his interest. Callot returned to France in 1622 and worked in Paris, where he made prints illustrating various sieges of Louis XIII and presenting views of the city and its life.
Philip Thomasin instructed him in the use of the graver, which, however, he ultimately abandoned, substituting the point as better adapted for his purposes.
From Rome he went to Florence, where he remained till the death of Cosimo II, the Maecenas of these times.
As his fame was now spread abroad in various countries of Europe, many distinguished persons gave him commissions to execute.
By the Infanta Isabella, sovereign of the Low Countries, he was commissioned to engrave a design of the siege of Breda; and at the request of Louis XIII he designed the siege of Rochelle and the attack on the Isle of Re.
He engraved in all about 1600 pieces, the best of which are those executed in aquafortis.
Freedom, variety and naivetS characterize all his pieces.
His Fairs, his Miseries of War, his Sieges, his Temptation of St Anthony and his Conversion of St Paul are the best-known of his plates.
Views
Quotations:
In 1631 he was desired by that monarch to execute an engraving of the siege of Nancy, which he had just taken, Callot refused, saying, " I would rather cut off my thumb than do anything against the honour of my prince and of my country "