Small male figure in profile view whose face is hidden by his upraised arm holding a cup, with lowered hand grasping a vessel, from the series 'Varie figure gobbi'

Art Historical Context

This delicate etching, *Small male figure in profile whose face is hidden by upraised arm holding a, with lowered hand grasping vessel*, comes from Jacques Callot's renowned series *Varie figure gob* (Various Hunch Figures), created around 1621–25. Callot, a masterful French printmaker active during the Baroque era, specialized in capturing the vibrant, often marginalized figures of 17th-century European street life—beggars, performers, the grotesque. Working primarily in Italy and France, he produced these small-scale prints (plate: 2½ × 3⅜ in.) as part of a larger fascination with capriccio ...

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...