The Large Hunt

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Artist: Jacques Callot (French, 1592–1635)
Medium: Etching
Size: Sheet: 20.7 x 47.1 cm (8 1/8 x 18 9/16 in.); Platemark: 19.8 x 46.3 cm (7 13/16 x 18 1/4 in.)
Culture: France
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Jacques Callot (French, 1592-1635)

The Large Hunt, 1619 Etching

Gift of Margaret Crile Garretson in memory of Hiram Garretson 1970.342

Callot is known for two important inventions in etching. He designed a slanted, oval-shaped, steel-tipped etching tool called an échoppe which is used to imitate the tapering and swelling lines of an engraving. He also developed a hard ground (an acid-resistant coating for etching plates), composed of mastic and linseed oil, that resisted chipping. Callot's work was significantly influenced by theater design. His organization of space, usually into three distinct areas (although there are five in this case)-foreground, middleground, and background-resembles stage sets of the time. In fact, this work was probably inspired by a theater screen painted by Federico Zuccaro in 1565.

Like Jacques Bellange, whose works are featured in galleries 109 and 110, Callot was from Lorraine. He was one of the most prolific professional printmakers of the 1600s. Trained as an engraver, he worked in Nancy, France, the Low Countries, and in Florence for Grand Duke Cosimo II de' Medici. His range of subjects was broad-religious scenes, theater and pageants, court life, beggars, and landscapes.