The Two Pantaloons
1616
Medium
Etching on paper
Dimensions
Image: 9.5 × 14 cm (3 3/4 × 5 9/16 in.); Sheet: 10 × 14.7 cm (3 15/16 × 5 13/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
44810
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Jacques Callot peopled his lively etchings with clowns, beggars, and stock figures from the Italian Commedia dell’arte (the improvisational street theater of the day). Spectacles, theatrical attire, and awkward posture mark both of the foreground men as the Commedia’s elderly, miserly, and lecherous character type, called Pantalone. They appear in stark contrast to the elegant nobles dallying in the background.
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...