La Mendiante Venant de Recevoir la Charité (The Female Beggar Receiving her Charity), from Les Gueux suite appelée aussi Les Mendiants, Les Baroni, ou Les Barons (The Beggars, also called the Barons)
ca. 1623
Medium
Etching; first state of two (Lieure)
Dimensions
Sheet: 5 7/16 x 3 7/16 in. (13.8 x 8.8 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
57.650.308(10)
Art Historical Context
Jacques Callot's *La Mendiante Venant de Recevoir la Charité (The Female Beggar her Charity), created around 1623, is a poignant etching from his renowned series *Les Gueux (The Beggars), also known as * Barons*. This intimate print, measuring just 5 7/16 x 3 7/16 inches, captures ragged woman clutching a coin just received in alms, her emaciated figure and tattered clothes evoking the harsh realities of 17th-century poverty inot's native Lorraine, France. As a master of the French Baroque, Callot elevated printmaking with his intricate, empathetic depictions of society's outcasts, blending so...
About the Artist
Jacques Callot · 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...