Camping Place of the Gypsies: The Preparation of the Feast
n.d.
Medium
Etching with burin on paper
Dimensions
Image/sheet, cut within platemark: 12.3 × 23.5 cm (4 7/8 × 9 5/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
10013
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Jacques Callot’s Camping Place of the Gypsies is the final plate of a four-part series that forms a rare, friezelike composition when assembled. These mysterious wanderers, alternately called gypsies or Bohemians, inspired much fascination at the beginning of the 17th century. It was rumored that Callot himself joined a similar group of Bohemians in Italy when he was 12 years old. In this picaresque scene, a motley crew of disheveled itinerants takes refuge for the evening under trees. While som...
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...