Jacques Callot , born with Nancy in 1592 and died in the same city the March 28th 1635 is a painter, draftsman and engraver Lorrain.

He is the eleventh child of Jean Callot, gentleman, first herald of Lorraine. His/her grandfather, Claude, had married a small-niece of the Maid of Orleans, and, for his bravery, had been anobli by the duke Charles III of Lorraine.

The Stone-block passion for the drawing is very early. It is reported that at the twelve years age it drew all that the streets of Nancy inspired to him: soldiers, pilgrims, bear leaders… Involved towards arts by a passion which its family opposed, he escaped, to satisfy it, of the paternal house. After four years of training in a goldsmith, Callot arrives at Rome in 1609, having travelled with foot, in particular with gipsies crossed in Suisse. It was formed with Rome under Jules Parigi and Philippe Thomassin. It is initiated with the Gravure in the workshop of Philippe Thomassin, editor and engraver, and discovers the Eau-forte with Tempesta. In 1612 it works at Giulio Parigi with Florence and becomes in this city an artist with the mode, by in particular illustrating all the festivals of the court of the Médicis. In 1617 it discovers in a goldsmith a varnish hard and very resistant to the attack of the acid which will modify considerably its manner of working (according to certain sources it is in a violin maker that it will make this discovery). In 1621, to died of the large-duke Cosme II of Médicis, it returns in Lorraine and diffuse of the series of engravings on its memories of Italy.

Of 1627 with 1629 it remains with the Netherlands, then of 1629 with 1631 goes to Paris where Louis XIII tries to attach it to its service for a pension of 1000 ecus. Patriot (the Duché of Lorraine is then besieged by the troops of Richelieu), it refuses. After the catch of Nancy, its fatherland, by Louis XIII (1633), it refused to devote by its graver the memory of this conquest. Later, whereas it is on the point of leaving Lorraine to take along its family to Italy, it falls ill and dies.

Following the example Rembrandt - which was a large collector of the Stone-block prints - or of a Goya, Jacques Callot had a considerable influence on the history of the print. Its subjects, in particular its scenes of wars ( miseries of war ), are a very alive testimony of the cruelty of the time. Engravings of Jacques Callot were published and diffused by Israel Henriet (1590 - 1661) and Israel Sylvestre (1621 - 1691).

Its work contains nearly 1600 parts: most remarkable are the Fairs, the Hideous ones, the Torments, the Miseries of war, both Tentations of S. Antoine, Gueux counterfeited; one owes him also several battles, of which the head office of Bréda and the seat of the La Rochelle. Callot was acquired a popular reputation by the talent with which it covered the grotesque subjects and caricatured the defects and the ridiculous ones of humanity. One must with Edouard Meaume of the Recherches on the life and works of Stone-block , Nancy, 1854 and 1860.

External bonds

• Jacques Stone-block in Artcyclopedia

Sources