Jacques Callot/François Collignon's etching, "The Naval Battle", c1630

Jacques Callot (1592–1635) (as inscribed on plate) also attributed to François Collignon (c1610–1687)

(Note: Édouard Meaume [1860] in “Recherches sur la vie et les ouvrages de Jacques Callot” attributes the execution of this print and the series of which it is a part to François Collignon.)

“The Naval Battle” (aka “Naval battle with ruined ship and smoking battlements” [Met Museum title]), c1630, from the series of eleven plates, “Italian landscapes” (aka “Diverse vedute designate in Fiorenza / Paysages Italiens” [Different views of Italian Landscapes designed in Florence]) (Lieure 268–277), published by Israël Henriet (c1590–1661) with privilege from Louis XIII (King of France).

Etching on laid paper with watermark trimmed with narrow margin around the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 11.4 x 24.9 cm: (image borderline) 11.2 x 24.7 cm

Inscribed on plate at lower right: “Callot in. f.”; “Israel ex. cum privil. Regis”

State ii (of ii) (an inscription on the mount to this print—now removed—advises that this is a first state impression and although this is undoubtedly a lifetime impression based on the crisp quality of the lines showing no sign of wear to the plate I am attributing the impression to the second state as I have no documentation to verify the previous collector’s attribution. My attribution of this impression to the second state is underpinned by the insight in Russell’s catalogue raisonné that proposes“…all impressions of the etchings known to have watermarks [which this impression has] are printed on Lorrainese paper, and nearly all are second states, bearing Israël Henriet’s name as publisher [which this impression also shows] [p. 282].)

Lieure 1927 277 II (II) (J Lieure 1927, “Jacques Callot”, 3 vols, Paris, Editions de la Gazette des Beaux-Arts); Meaume 1860 1196 (Édouard Meaume 1860, “Recherches sur la vie et les ouvrages de Jacques Callot”, 2 volumes, Paris); Russell 1975, 241 (H Diane Russell 1975, “Jacques Callot Prist & Related Drawings”, National Gallery of Art, Washington, p. 295).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

(Transl.) “On two large rocks in the sea there are forts, from which one shoots on a number of ships that are fighting each other. To the right in the foreground a group of soldiers at the foot of a rock. In the background two large rocks in the sea. This print is part of a series of 11 Italian (probably mostly Florentine) landscapes (12 including title print).”

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.41096)

See also the description at the National Gallery of Art Washington:

https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.51189.html

The Metropolitan Museum offers the following insight into the print series, “Italian landscapes”, of which this etching is a part:

“The set was first published after 1630 by Israël Henriet, whose name appears on these prints. But the date of the execution of the plates themselves, and indeed their attribution to Callot, has been called into question. Callot may have designed the landscapes while he was in Italy, but it is also possible that the drawings were made and etched by French artist Israel Silvestre after Callot’s death, based on ideas found in drawings in the possession of Henriet. The uncertainty surrounding the prints’ attribution demonstrates Callot’s fame and the popularity of his work during the seventeenth century.”

(https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/397617)

Condition: superbly crisp, richly inked and well-printed early impression, trimmed with narrow margins around the image borderline and backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in excellent/near faultless museum-quality condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing).

I am selling this marvellous example of a Baroque period landscape executed with Callot’s famous etching needle that he developed, called the “échoppe”, which allowed etchers to make swelling lines like engravers—note in particular the swelling lines describing the clouds in the sky—for AU$310 (currently US$228.85/EUR201.57/GBP179.57 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries).

If you are interested in purchasing this remarkable and very rare print, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold