Frontispiece, from Le Combat a la Barrière in the Palace at Nancy by Henri Humbert, printed by Sebastien Phillipe
Medium
Etching and engraving; second state of three (Lieure)
Dimensions
Sheet: 6 7/8 x 5 1/16 in. (17.5 x 12.8 cm) Plate: 6 1/8 x 4 5/16 in. (15.6 x 11 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Edwin De T. Bechtel, 1957
Accession Number
57.650.407(1)
Art Historical Context
This frontispiece, created in 1627, introduces *Le Combat à la Barrière*, a lavish court spectacle staged at the Palace of Nancy in the Duchy of Lorraine. Jacques Callot, working with designer Henri Humbert, produced the etching and engraving to commemorate the event, which likely featured choreographed combats and pageantry typical of early seventeenth-century European nobility. Printed by Sébastien Philippe, the work captures the grandeur of such festivities for a wider audience through the reproducible medium of print. Callot’s masterful combination of etching and engraving allowed for bot...
About the Artist
Jacques Callot|Henri Humbert · 1592–1635
Jacques Callot (1592–1635) was a French printmaker and draftsman from the Duchy of Lorraine, widely regarded as one of the first great artists to practice the graphic arts exclusively. His more than 1,400 etchings chronicled the breadth of 17th-century life, from Medici court festivities to the brutal realities of warfare. Callot revolutionized etching through technical innovations including the é...