Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
"Jacques Callot Mundum Tradidit Disputati Oni Eorum Translation: He (God) entrusts knowledge of the universe to their investigation Etching 51/2 x 33/4 in. Signed in the bottom left hand corner: Jac Callot 1630 Acc. No. 1982.11
Jacques Callot was born in 1592 in the city of Nancy, a town that was part of the province of Lorraine, now Alsace-Lorraine, in France. Callot was an apprentice of Demenge Crocq, a court jeweler and goldsmith, and then left Nancy in 1608, headed for Rome. There he studied under Phillipe Thomassin for a few years and learned the art of engraving. He then left Rome for Florence, where he worked for Cosimo de’Medici and studied under Guglio Parigi. It was at the ducal court that Callot met Galileo and learned basic mathematics and science, subjects which influenced his future etchings. Callot returned to Nancy in 1621 after the death of Cosimo de’ Medici and married Catherine Kuttinger, thereby gaining financial independence. Callot went through two different periods in his career, the first period in Italy lasting from 1609 to 1621, and the second in Lorraine from 1621 to 1635.
The present print was made in 1630, during the Lorraine period, which coincided with the Thirty Years War and the Protestant Reformation. This print was made for a Jesuit priest named D. Caspar Ruhard, who had written a book entitled Sacracosmologia Theoriis Physicis Illustrata, an illustrated cosmology based on theoretical physics. The etching is the frontispiece of this book. What we see is a symbolic landscape with five men present around a globe. The individuals portrayed are: Zorastor, representing the school of magic; Pythagoras, a mathematician; Archimedes, who also symbolizes mathematics; the god Hermes, who represents science, alchemy and astrology; and a Cabalist. Cabala or Kabbalah is a sect of Judaism dating back to 1000 CE and dealing primarily with mysticism. Around these figures there are successive groups of trees which go from dark to light, a technique used to emphasize the scene’s spatial illusion. It is a form of chiaroscuro lighting popular during the Baroque period of European art. The scene takes place out of doors and it seems as if Callot is trying to mediate between nature and science. He is saying that one is dependent on the other, as in the case of Hermes, who alludes to astrology, which depends on astronomy, an activity devoted to the study of nature. A plethora of animals is used, and they are as varied as the men portrayed; the animals range from a porcupine to an elephant. Callot’s style of etching is theatrical, here presenting a scene dramatically arranged around a group of men who draw you inward. The men standing around the globe or sphere are like actors on a stage. Each serves a different purpose and each holds a different item which can be viewed as a prop, with nature serving as the stage. Stylistically, this work is similar to another of the artist’s works’ entitled The Stag Hunt. Like the frontispiece, The Stag Hunt makes use of darkened trees in the foreground and cross hatching to create a darkened appearance. Also as in the frontispiece, the trees get lighter as they recede into the background, creating a sense of depth.
Amy Solmos "