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The Incisive Imagination: Jacques Callot and His Contemporaries

February 6–May 2, 2004
Prints, Drawings and Photography Gallery

Jacques Callot (French, 1592–1635) had a significant impact on the history of printmaking, earning renown for his inventive imagery and his innovative techniques, and crafting a uniquely personal brand of Mannerism. After initial training in France, Callot launched his career in Italy, where he earned the patronage of Cosimo II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The highly spectacular Florentine theater inspired Callot to create prints, distinguished by extraordinary depth of field and lively tonal range that document the spirit of the age and commemorate its elaborate civic festivals. An exhibition highlight and recent acquisition, The Fair at Impruneta (1620) is an outstanding example that depicts some 1800 human and animal figures.

The Incisive Imagination: Jacques Callot and His Contemporaries traces the artist’s extraordinary achievement, beginning with the artistic culture of his own day and then considering his impact on later generations of printmakers.

The exhibition is organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum and curated by Britt Salvesen, associate curator of prints, drawings and photographs and Sarah Kirk, assistant curator of prints, drawings and photographs.
Image:
  • Jacques Callot, The Fair at Impruneta, 1620. Etching. Milwaukee Art Museum, Purchase with funds given by Ethel K. Hockerman, from the collection of Philip and Dorothy Pearlstein.