Jacques Callot (1592—1633), a native of Nancy, France, trained in Florence, “taking up etching and introducing the technical innovation of using a very hard ground on the plate, thus making it possible to vary the thickness of the line, modeling it along its whole course with a dependable ground to work on, he became the first specialist virtuoso etcher … [this work provides] the first unromantic pictures of war, exposing its impersonal cruelty, casual violence, and senseless destruction his records of war-torture, rape, burning at the stake, the firing squad-are strikingly believable because he observed decorum, viewed events as dispassionately as only a Frenchman can, and made his figures move as delicately and precisely as deadly insects. Through his technical innovations and the excellence of his drawing he exerted an influence more profound than that of many greater artists”


Here we have one etching from Calendar of Saints — One of a collection of 16, being offered from the “Calendar of Saints”, originally c. 1636, this is a later state, c. 18th century. Etching on chained lined paper, archival mat. Oval cartouche with image, printed on trimmed, Laid paper measuring 3-13/16” x 2-1/16” and in good condition. These were conceived and created by Callot.

These were Published by Israel Silvestre (Nancy, 13 August 1621 — 11 October 1691 in Paris), called the Younger to distinguish him from his father, was a prolific French draftsman, etcher and print dealer who specialized in topographical views and perspectives of famous buildings. Orphaned at an early age, he was taken in by his uncle in Paris, Israel Henriet, an etcher and printseller, and friend of Jacques Callot. Between 1630 and 1650 Silvestre travelled widely in France and Italy, which he visited three times, and later worked up his sketches as etchings, which were sold singly and in series. His work, especially of Venetian subjects published in the 1660s, influenced eighteenth-century painters of vedute such as Luca Carlevaris and Canaletto, who adapted his compositions.


In 1661 he inherited the stock of plates of his uncle, the print seller Israel Henriet, among which was a large part of the works of Callot, and many of those of Stefano della Bella. In 1662 he was appointed dessinateur et graveur du Roi and in 1673 he was appointed drawing-master to Louis, le Grand Dauphin. From 1668 he was granted workshop space in the galleries of the Louvre, where the practice of housing eminent artists and craftsmen was a tradition that was originated under Henri IV. Silvestre’s atelier was large: he had at least two pupils who had separate careers as engravers, François Noblesse and Meunier. In 1670 Charles Le Brun recommended him for membership in the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. In 1675 his son, the artist Louis Silvestre, was born at Sceaux.
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Art (paintings, prints, frames)