Man with Big Belly
c. 1622
Medium
etching and engraving on laid paper
Dimensions
plate: 6.4 × 8.9 cm (2 1/2 × 3 1/2 in.) sheet: 9.5 × 10.3 cm (3 3/4 × 4 1/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
R.L. Baumfeld Collection
Accession Number
1969.15.435
Art Historical Context
Jacques Callot's *Man with Big Belly*, around 1622, is a delightful yet incisive etching and engraving on laid paper, just 6.4 × 8.9 cm on the plate. This tiny print, now housed in the National Gallery Art's R.L. Baumfeld Collection, exemplifies French artist's mastery during the Baroque era. Callot, a pioneering printmaker who worked across Italy and France, was renowned for his intricate small-scale etchings that captured the vibrancy and grit of everyday life. Likely part of Callot's celebrated *Gobbi* series—featuring exaggerated, grotesque figures like hunchbacks and rotund characters—th...
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...