Jacques Callot

Purchased from Riche, November 1919 (£7)

London, Royal Academy, The Paul Oppé Collection, 1958, no. 426;
Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Exhibition of Works from the Paul Oppé Collection, 1961, no. 109

Laid down. The sheet has suffered somewhat. There is a small tear at the upper margin, towards the centre of the sheet. There are a number of losses and tears around the edges of the sheet, more so at the upper margin and right margin. There is a small hole near the upper right corner of the sheet and two small holes at the lower left corner. There are a number of light brown stains throughout, a more prominent dark brown stain in the lower section of the sheet in the centre. Fortunately the losses and tears are located around the edges of the sheet and the main section illustrating the festivities is still lively and animated and medium retains its strength. Pen and ink and chalk fairly strong.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This wonderfully spirited and energetic drawing is a preparatory study for the third plate in Callot’s four part series of prints entitled La Guerre d’Amour (Lieure 171; fig. 1).  The series was commissioned to commemorate the carnival of 1616 in Florence, which was dedicated by Cosimo II de’ Medici (1590-1621) to his wife, the Grand Duchess. The celebrations consisted of a triumphal procession, a mock battle, a ballet on horseback and a tournament in the Piazza Santa Croce, on Shrove Tuesday, 12^th February.  The premise of the festival was the battle between Indamoro, the King of Narsinga (played by Cosimo II) and Gradamento, King of Melinda (played by Lorenzo, Cosimo’s brother) for the love of the Queen of India, represented by a gold statue. Callot’s etchings, which show the various phases of the combat, were part of the souvenir booklet written by the poet Andrea Salvadori and published by Zandri Pignoni in Florence in 1616.¹

Jacques Callot was one of the most prolific and innovative draughtsmen and printmakers of the seventeenth century.  He remains one of the most important names associated with the School of Lorraine, alongside the celebrated landscape artist Claude Lorrain (see lot 41).  Born in Nancy, to a prominent family associated with the ducal court, Callot, together with Jacques Bellange, Georges Lallemand and Claude Deruet, was largely responsible for the development of a new artistic style that brought a renewed vitality to the region and beyond.  Callot was only sixteen when he travelled to Italy and is thought to have been in Rome between 1608 and 1611, where he studied with the engraver and publisher Philippe Thomassin (1562-1612) and also worked with the celebrated printmaker Antonio Tempesta (1555-1630).  In 1611 Callot was summoned to Florence by Cosimo II de’ Medici to produce engravings of the funeral ceremony for Margaret of Spain. Upon Callot’s move to Florence he met the artist and designer Giulio Parigi, an introduction that was to mark the beginning of an extremely important artistic association, and the Oppé drawing is a fine testament to this exciting collaboration.

Giulio Parigi was enlisted by Cosimo II as the engineer and costumier for the extravagant festival of 1616 and Callot was entrusted with immortalising the lavish events in a series of etchings.  One of Callot’s greatest skills was observation and his drawings and prints all reflect his minute attention to detail.  The Oppé study illustrates the foreground figures in the carnival and a section of the amphitheatre (designed by Parigi), and corresponds very closely to the final print, which is etched in the same direction.  In the drawing Callot includes a blank section at the lower margin where in the final print there is text providing the title of the ceremony.  Callot’s composition is action-packed and is bursting with energy.  Ghoulish and fantastical acrobatic figures are silhouetted against the picture plane to the left and right of the drawing, leading the eye into the spectacle unfolding beyond, an artistic device seen in many of the artist’s drawings and prints.  The sense of movement created by the figures and horses in the procession is cleverly achieved by Callot’s rapid and nervous penwork. His facility in establishing different spatial planes in his composition allows him to create a great sense of organised chaos.  The foreground figures in the procession gesticulate wildly, flinging their arms to the left and right, producing a tug-of-war for the eyes.  The vertical lines of the amphitheatre structure break the horizontality of the foreground movement and take us into another spatial plane, where tiny and precise pen and ink figures fill the stands.  More figures can be seen climbing ladders and being hoisted into their seats, providing yet another dimension to the composition.  In the uppermost section of the drawing, Callot uses red chalk to indicate other figures that appear in the arena in the final print. These rapid chalk outlines are again an important part of this preparatory study and are a further insight into how Callot developed these extravagant and highly detailed ceremonial engravings.

The Oppé drawing is one of a number of preparatory studies connected with the series La Guerre d’Amour, but it appears to be the only known drawing that is closely connected with the third plate in the series.  Studies relating to other prints in the series include one showing festival floats and participants, at Chatsworth, which is linked to the first plate of the four (Lieure 169, etched in reverse).²  The Chatsworth drawing illustrates the designs for the elephant and camel floats in the procession and also individual figure studies that were part of the spectacle.  Another drawing representing the great view of the Piazza Santa Croce is in the Uffizi, and is an early study for the second plate in the series (Lieure 170).³  The Uffizi drawing is more sketch-like and less developed compared to the Oppé sheet; it illustrates only basic outlines for figures using simple pen and ink lines and indicates the amphitheatre with rudimentary chalk markings.

Encompassing the new and exciting artistic expression with which Callot was experimenting, the Oppé drawing marks a departure from more formulaic mannerist tendencies.  Callot’s innovative etching techniques saw him experimenting with different tools and grounds in the printing process to create dramatic chiaroscuro effects.  This technique is also evident in his drawings and employed so skilfully in the Oppé sheet, where he uses darker tones of wash to create his silhouetted figures.  As Per Bjurström aptly pointed out, ‘graphic artists of this calibre are few and far between – one thinks of Durer and Rembrandt; in each case one finds this creative, exciting cross-fertilization of the expressive potentials of the two media.’⁴  The Oppé sheet is a wonderful example of this powerful creative union between the drawing and the print.

^1. Jacques Callot, exhib. cat., Nancy, Musée Historique Lorrain, 1992, p. 189

^2. M. Jaffé, The Devonshire Collection of Northern European Drawings, Turin 2002, vol. V, French Artists, no. 1592

^3. Jacques Callot, exhib. cat., op.cit., p. 190, cat. no. 844.

^4. P. Bjurström, The Art of Drawing in France 1400-1900, Drawings from the National Museum in Stockholm, exhib. cat., New York, The Drawings Center, and Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, 1987, p. 40