A wonderfully detailed and charismatic portrait, this exquisite work illustrates the technical mastery and artistic vision of Van Dyck. Jacques Callot's stately, yet approachable expression reflects Van Dyck's refined ability to comfort and relax his subjects, resulting in a realistic and acute portrait. Jacques Callot was a Baroque printmaker and draftsman from the Duchy of Lorraine (an independent state near France, Germany, and the Netherlands). He was crucial in the development of the Old Master print, making over 1,400 detailed etchings. These etchings featured soldiers, clowns, drunkards, Gypsies, beggars, images from court, landscapes, and religious and military images. Callot also invented the échoppe, a type of etching needle with a slanting oval section at the end. Perhaps the échoppe is the tool pictured in Van Dyck's portrait, as Callot appears busy at work drafting a composition. Though many portraits within the Iconographie series depict artists, not many of these artists are shown at work. Perhaps this privileged look at Callot in a moment of creativity comments on his artistic importance of the time.

This portrait is a Mauquoy-Hendrickx State V (of V), engraved by Lucas Vorsterman (Zaltbommel, 1595 - Antwerp, 1675) in collaboration with Anthony van Dyck (Antwerp, 1559 - London, 1641) as part of his Iconographie series of engraved portraits of famous people at the time. The plate has been marked in the lower left of the plate "Ant. Van Dyck pinxcit," and beneath that "Vorsterman fculp" and in the lower right of the plate "Cum privilegio." Beneath the engraved portrait is the inscription: JACOBUS CALLOT | CALCOGRAPHVS AQVA FORTI NANCEII IN LOTHARINGIA | NOBILIS. Printed on a fine laid paper with the grapes watermark (Mauquoy-Hendrickx 312), dating the piece to the late 1600s- early 1700s.

DOCUMENTED AND ILLUSTRATED IN:
1) Mauquoy-Hendrickx. L'Iconographie d'Antoine Van Dyck: Catalogue Raisonne I. Bruxelles: Bibliotheque Royale Albert I, 1991. Listed as catalogue no. 76 on pg. 149 - 150.

2) Mauquoy-Hendrickx. L'Iconographie d'Antoine Van Dyck: Catalogue Raisonne II. Bruxelles: Bibliotheque Royale Albert I, 1991. Illustrated as catalogue no. 76 on pg. 48.

3) A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this work.

ABOUT THE FRAMING:
Framed to archival museum grade conservation standards, this piece is framed in a complementary moulding with silk mats and optical grade Plexiglas.