Razullo and Cucurucu
c. 1622
Medium
etching on laid paper
Dimensions
plate: 7.3 × 9.1 cm (2 7/8 × 3 9/16 in.) sheet: 10 × 12.5 cm (3 15/16 × 4 15/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1946.21.216
Art Historical Context
Jacques Callot's *Razullo and Cucurucu* (c. 1622) captures the exuberant world of commedia dell'arte, the improvised Italian theater tradition that enchanted European audiences in the early 17th century. This small etching depicts two masked grotesque figures—Razullo, a sly trickster, and Cucurucu, his bombastic companion—from Callot's renowned series *Comici dell'Arte*. As a leading French Baroque printmaker working in Florence under the Medici court, Callot immortalized these lively performers, blending satire, fantasy, and social commentary on human folly. Rendered as an etching on laid pa...
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...