Jacques CallotFrench, 1592–1635The Two Pantaloons
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Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
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- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
Jacques Callot peopled his lively etchings with clowns, beggars, and stock figures from the Italian Commedia dell’arte (the improvisational street theater of the day). Spectacles, theatrical attire, and awkward posture mark both of the foreground men as the Commedia’s elderly, miserly, and lecherous character type, called Pantalone. They appear in stark contrast to the elegant nobles dallying in the background.
Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1942.288
In the catalog
Sources
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image: Art Institute of Chicago — CC0
Meanwhile, in the life of Jacques Callot
The whole life1611–1621 · Workplace
Florence
1614–1621
At the court of Cosimo II de’ Medici
Under Parigi’s direction Callot works at the court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo II de’ Medici in the Uffizi, designing festivals and theatrical performances — later these give him themes for his series of grotesque prints; during his Florentine years he becomes an independent master and often works for the Medici.
1617
Switches to hard ground and repeated biting
From 1617 Callot uses, instead of the soft ground customary until then, the acid-resistant hard ground of Florentine joiners and furniture-makers; it allows the plate to be bitten repeatedly, with parts of the spatial planes successively covered by varnish, and gives broad tonal gradations; he is also credited with the échoppe, an etching needle with a slanted end that produces a swelling line.
