The Fair at Impruneta

1620

Jacques Callot

(French, 1592–1635)

Culture

France, 17th century

Medium

etching on two sheets of paper joined

Measurements

Sheet: 43.2 x 67.6 cm (17 x 26 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

L. E. Holden Fund 1962.20

Catalogue raisonné

Lieure (2) II.14.361

State

III/VI

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Callot's innovative formulas and techniques for etching included a process of stepped acid baths to achieve greater tonal variation from foreground to background.

Description

The annual fair held in Impruneta, a commune in Florence, Italy, was an opportunity for rural and urban communities to comingle and partake in commerce, socializing, and festivity. Jacques Callot filled the panorama with 1,138 people, 45 horses, 67 donkeys, and 137 dogs. Prominent in the left foreground is a vendor of tableware patronized by a mix of social classes, selling footed tazzas (shallow cups mounted on stems) and goblets. Pick-pocketing, fighting, snake-charming, and the punishment of a criminal by torture also occur. Callot dedicated this print to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, for whom the fair signified a healthy Florentine economy.