Reverse Copy of La Course de Chevaux sur la Place Pitti a Florence (The Horse Race at the Piazza Pitti in Florence), from "Les Caprices", Series A, The Florence Set
17th century
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 1/8 x 3 1/8 in. (5.4 x 7.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917
Accession Number
17.50.17-510
Art Historical Context
This delicate 17th-century etching, titled *Reverse Copy of La Course de Chevaux sur la Place Pitti a Florence* (The Horse Race at the Piazza Pitti in Florence), is an anonymous reproduction of a work by the renowned French printmaker Jacques Callot. Part of *Les Caprices*, Series A (The Florence Set), it captures the thrill of a chaotic horse race in Florence's grand Piazza Pitti. Callot, who worked extensively in Tuscany under Medici patronage, was a master of etching, producing intricate scenes of festivals, spectacles, and daily life in remarkably small formats—here, just 2 1/8 x 3 1/8 inc...
About the Artist
Jacques Callot|Anonymous · 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...