Callot, Jacques - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. III, p. 250

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

CALLOT, JACQUES. - Engraver and draughtsman, b. at Nancy about 1594, d. there in 1635. In 1608 he arrived in Italy, after making his first experiments in engraving in 1607.

In Florence, in 1611, the grand duke granted him a pension and lodging in the palace; there he produced the three sheets of the Guerra d'Amore (1615) and the 50 plates of Capricci, di varie figure (1617); the famous Fiera dell'Impruneta dates from 1620. After the death of Cosimo II in 1621, C. returned to Nancy, where he produced many engravings, including religious works still greatly admired today: Martirio di s. Sebastiano (1623), the Libro dei santi. The Miserie della guerra (1633) protest against the invasion of Lorraine ordered by Richelieu, and constitute a bold anticipation of Goya’s Désastres de la guerre.

C.’s style eschews descriptive details and is instead directed toward an essential, illustrative representation of subjects. His drawings are important, many of them being in the Uffizi in Florence.

BIBL.: H. Nasse, J. C., Leipzig 1909; L. Rosenthal, C. en Italia, in Revue de l'art ancien et moderne, 26 (1909), pp. 23-38; P. Plan, J. C. maître graveur, Brussels 1911; E. G. Troche, J. C., in Pantheon, 8 (1935), pp. 343-46; G. Margotti, L'opera religiosa di un grande acquafortista del Seicento, in Illustrazione vaticana, 6 (1935), pp. 432-35; P. Fiel, I grandi maestri dell'incisione: C., ibid., 9 (1938), pp. 549-52; E. Duvernoy, Les chimères du duc Charles III, in Pays lorrain, 30 (1938), pp. 409-412; P. Marot, J. C. d'après des documents inédits, Nancy 1939. Angelo Lipinsky