A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF
persons of note. The embassy quitted Nancy late
in the year 1608, Callot being then but sixteen
years old.
Arrived at Rome, he studied probably for a time imder Tempesta, the master of Henriet Israel and of Claude Deruet, and then under Qiulio Parigi ; but as his preference for etching and engraving became more decided, he placed himself under the tuition of Philippe Thoraassin. He went again to Flo- rence in 1611, in the time of the Grand-Duke Cosmo II., renewed his intimacy with Canta- Gallina, engraved several subjects after Andrea del Sarto, Perino del Vaga, and others, and more especially brought himself into the notice of his future patron, the duke there, by a series of small etchings from his own designs. On the death of t!ie duke he found a protector in Prince Charles of Lorraine, who persuaded him to return to Nancy, having assured him of a position in the service of Henry, the then reigning Duke of Lor- raine. He quitted Italy in 1621 or 1622, and settling again in his native town, he developed extraordinary activity, and gradually gained for himself an almost world-wide reputation. It was owing to the great esteem in which his talents were held that he was summoned by the Infanta Clara Eugenia to Brussels to design and engrave the ' Siege of Breda,' and was engaged subsequently by the French monarcli, Louis XIII. , to execute in the same manner 'The Siege of La Rochelle,' and of ' The Siege of the Isle of R6.' His views of the Louvre and of the Pont Neuf were taken while he was at Paris engaged upon these works in the year 1629, and there also he had the satisfaction of re- newing his old intimacy with Henriet Israel. He returned to Nancy after no long residence in the capital, and was witness to the siege and capitulation of his native town in 1633. The French monarch called on him to use his skill in drawing and engraving a plate commemorative of the occurrence, as he had done in the case of the other French victories; but Callot desired to be per- mitted to decline what he considered as celebrat- ing the humiliation of his country. Some of the courtiers, anxious for the possession of such a souvenir, are said to have observed to the artist that there were means of making him comply, to which he replied with much spirit that he would sooner cut oS his right hand than employ it in such a work; a speech which, being reported to the king, led him to say that the Dukes of Lorraine were fortunate in the possession of such subjects. It is said that Callot had determined, in consequence of the annexation of Nancy to France, to retire to Florence, but that he died before carrying his plan into execution. His death occurred at Nancy on the 24th of March, 1635, at the comparatively early age of 43.
There exists a good portrait of Callot, taken by Van Dyck on the occasion of his visiting Brussels, and of this there is a fine engraving by Voreterinan. Several collections possess paintings which have been supposed to have been produced by Callot's hand, but more recent investigation leads to the conclusion that they are in all probability wrongly attributed, and that he did not execute any finished work of that nature. There are sixty- two drawings by him in the Louvre.
His engravings exhibit great fertility of invention and extraordinary variety of style. It is a remarkable fact that many artists who followed him, and who far surpassed him in the technical use of the graver, are comparatively little known, their reputation being completely dimmed by the lustre of that of Callot, in consequence of the absence in their case of his extraordinary powers of imagination. Those of his engravings in which he has confined himself to figures of a small size are the most highly esteemed, as when he attempted to produce figures on a larger scale they were apt to be somewhat heavy, so that the result was less characteristic of his charming power of combining a touch of humour with a photographic grasp of the details of a scene. His etchings are greatly admired. It is true they are seldom brilliant in respect of the arrangement of the lights, but the pose of his figures is highly pleasing, and the work shows a certainty of stroke and a lightness of touch characteristic of a master hand. They are principally done with hard varnish {vemis de luthiers), a method of his own invention. In proof of his diligence we are told by M. de Wate- let that there existed four difiEerent drawings for his celebrated plate of 'The Temptation of St, Anthony.' The number of his plates is prodigious, being over 1400. A full account of them is to be found in M. Meaume's 'Recherches sur la vie et les ouvrages de Jacques Callot,' published 1860. There is a portrait of Callot in the Uffizi at Florence. ThefoUowing are his principal plates ; some of which are marked with the letters A. J. C, (t others with the accompanying monogram ; 1 Cosmo m., Grand Duke of Tuscany ; oval. Francis, Grand Duke of Tuscany ; oval ; scarce. Charles III., Duke of Lorraine ; scarce. The Marquis de Marignan, General of Charles V. ; scarce.
Donato dell' Antella, a Florentine Senator ; scarce. Claude Deruet, painter, and his Son. 1632. Giovanni Domenico Peri, known as ' Le Jardinier.' The Murder of the Innocents, engraved at Florence; scarce. . , The same subject, engraved at Nancy, with variations. _ The Annunciation, with the words Ecce Ancilla Domini coming from the mouth of the Virgin ; after Mattto Rosselii ; very scarce. Christ bearmg His Cross; small oval; engraved on The Crucifixion, with the Virgin, St. John, and Magda- IPIIG * SC3XC6 The Entombment of Christ ; after Ventura Salimhem. The Vh-gin and Infant, with St. Elisabeth and St. John ; after Andrea del Sarto. The Holy Family, with St. Joseph giving drmk to the Infant Jesus. . The Little Assumption, called the Assumption with Cherubim. Another Assumption ; oval. The Triumph of the Virgm ; dedicated to the Duke 01 Lorraine. St. John in the Isle of Patmos. The Temptation of St. Anthony ; dated 1635. Another Temptation of St. Anthony, with a Eiver in the middle, and on the right some Devils drinking ; very scarce. ,^ The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian ; a grand composition. St. Mansiietus restoring to hf e the Son of King Leucoms. St. Nicholas preaching in a Wood. Jupiter hurling thunderbolts at the Giants ; scarce. P.indora, with the Assembly of the Gods The Card-players. . ,,,.«. The Punishments. The best impressions of this mie print have a small square tower above the houses on the left, and a little image of the Virgin m an angle of the wall in the middle of the print. A Woman seated with a Child in her Arms, and another eating Fruit under a Tree ; very scarce. A View of the Louvre, with the Tour de Nesle.
A View of the Pont Neuf at Paris ; the compamon.
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