Callot, Jacques (1592-1635)
Massacre of the Innocents (massamoord van onschuldigen).
The massacre of the innocents; the macabre episode from the Bible illustrated by the French artist and published by Israel Henriet in Paris between 1617 and 1618. The scene is arranged like it was designed for a stage: the classical buildings enclose the representation from the left and from the right. The main street goes from the foreground to never end over the mountains in the background. Herod the great appearing on the balcony on the left, looking over the scene. On the street soldiers are taking the newborns and killing them in front of the helpless mothers. Cruel scene, yet extremely charming composition. The plate was engraved in the period the artist was in Florence, working for the Medici family. The artist did a second plate of the subject later in Nancy, but, according to Lieure, this first version, especially in the first state, is rare.
SKU: 64308
Etching on paper, trimmed within plate; total: 135 x 103 mm; state I/2; the margins on the right have been restored and pasted down to a sheet of paper; Lieure 278. First state, before lettering.
€ 242,00 (€ 200,00 ex. btw)