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Beautifully bound album with 45 engravings and etchings of Jacques Callot from different series,
spanning the whole career of one of the most important 17th-century printmakers

[CALLOT, Jacques].
[Album with 45 engravings and etchings].
[Paris, largely Israel Silvestre and Israel Henriet, ca. 1609-1635]. Large 4to. With 12 smaller and 33 larger engravings and etchings mounted in the album on 39 leaves. 19th-century red morocco in the style of Andrieux, house binder to the Ducs de Orléans from 1837 to circa 1870, gold-tooled spine with title in gold, gold-tooled boards, each with a large unidentified monogram ("FGO"?), marbled endpapers. [39], [1 blank] ll.
€ 12,500
Album containing a collection of 45 engravings and etching by Jacques Callot (1592-1635), from different series, spanning his whole career. Callot was a French print maker with a remarkable production of 1400 prints and 2000 drawings on various subjects. Although he was born in Nancy in France, he worked in Rome from 1608-1611, in Florence for the Medici family from 1612 to 1621 and then returned to Nancy, where he settled for the rest of his life. He is often considered one of the greatest printmakers of the 17th century, not only because he invented a new type of etching ground and the échoppe (a type of etching-needle), but also because he sometimes combined engraving with etching, allowing him constantly to create subtle gradations of line. His prints were extremely popular and much copied and he influenced generations of European artists, including the great Dutch master Rembrandt and the Italian etcher Stefano della Bella. He produced particularly military or religious illustrations.
The present collection includes mainly etchings or engravings on religious subjects. They were mostly (perhaps all, but some are unsigned) printed by Israel Silvestre (1621-1691) and his uncle Israel Henriet (1590-1661). Henriet was not only Callot's best friend, but is also especially known as his publisher, signing most of his plates with "Israel' instead of "Henriet". One of the series in the present album is the Les quatre banquets (The four feasts), including the Marriage at Cana, the Feast of the Pharisees, the Supper at Emmaus and the Last Supper. This series appears here in two states, the first with the prints unnumbered and with the imprint of Israel Silvestre. Other series in the present collection include the Lux Claustri or La Lumière du Cloitre, many plates of the series Les grandes Apôtres and also some prints from a series depicting paintings and sculptures from churches in Rome, for example a statue of Saint Helena.
The album also includes the etching and engraving, La massacre des innocents (The Massacre of the Innocents), illustrating the macabre Bible episode, with Herod looking on from the balcony on the left while the street soldiers take the newborns and kill them in front of their mothers. The plate, here in the second state, was engraved while Callot was working in Florence for the Medici family. Two other remarkable prints in this collection demand mention here: an engraving (here in the second state) depicting Judith placing the head of Holofernes on a tray held by an attendant, with the body of Holofernes on a canopied bed; and an etching entitled Les martyrs du Japon (The martyrs of Japan), which is interesting because it documents what was still a recent event. It shows us the crucifixion of twenty-six Christians in Japan in 1597, executed on the order of Emperor Taikosama. The martyrs depicted included several European missionaries. Callot likely made this etching on the occasion of the beatification of the martyrs by Pope Urban VIII in 1627, beautifully showing that he not only depicted historical or Biblical scenes and figures, but also responded to important (Christian) events in his own time.
With the armorial bookplate of Moncure Biddle (1882-1956) on the front paste-down. Binding only very slightly worn around the edges, with some minor foxing and some staining in only three plates. Overall in very good condition. A very interesting collection of etchings and engravings, covering most of the highlights of Jacques Callot's work. Meaume 6 ("La massacre des innocents"), 48-51 ("Le quatre banquets"), 155 ("Les martyrs du Japon"), 234-260 ("Lux Claustri" or "La lumiere du Cloistre").
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Art, architecture & photography  >  Drawings, Prints & Watercolours