"[The Temptation of St. Anthony]", Callot, Jacques

This is a later re-engraving of the grotesque and elaborate etching by Jacques Callot (ca. 1592-1635), one of the master printmakers of the Baroque period. It depicts St. Anthony in the Egyptian desert as he is tempted, taunted, and tormented by an onslaught of demons. A massive dragon-like Devil overlooks the chaos, dwarfing St. Anthony, who cowers in a cave at bottom left. The composition is dense with horrors, each more perversely imaginative than the last. Originally printed circa 1635, this etching was Callot's second crack at the Temptation of St. Anthony. The image is reversed in this reduced re-engraving, which was likely published sometime in the 18th century.

Callot was a prolific artist and an innovator in the development of the old master print. His work was collected by Rembrandt, inspired Goya, and was parodied by Hogarth. He is perhaps best known for his series of "grotesque dwarves" and Les Grandes Miseres de la guerre (1633), a collection of etchings detailing the horrors of the Thirty Years' War.

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Condition: A

A dark impression with minor scattered foxing and some light soiling that is confined to the blank margins.