ITALIAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



Nancy. Beneath the title of the latter is infcribcd " excud. 

 Nancy,'' but the Florentine fet is executed with fu- 

 perior talle and feeling ; " Varie figure di Jacobo Callot," 

 on feventeeij fmall plates, including an hiilorical title ; " Balli 

 di Stefania,'' on twenty-four fmall plates, including an hif- 

 torical title : each plate contains three figures ; " Varie 

 figure Gobbi di Jacobo Callot, fatte in Fiorenze,"' a fet 

 of fixteen fmall plates, generally called, in England, the 

 Hunchbacks, or Pigmies. This is a droll fet, and as the 

 author may be faid to have here prefented us with a back 

 yiew of nature, the title page is a figure who (hews his pof- 

 teriors. Callot repeated this fet with fome variations " Les 

 Guerra di Callot,'' twenty-five plates in 8vo., which are 

 much fought after by connoifTeurs. On a piece of drapery 

 in the title page, is infcnbed " Capitano di Baroni ;" 

 •' March of the Bohemians," on four 4.to. plates in form of 

 friezes. Thefe are proba'oly done from his lively recollec- 

 tions of the gang withwhom he firft travelled from Lorraine 

 to Florence; " Nobility, or the Fafhions of the Times," 

 twelve plates in 8vo., on which are pourtrayed fix of either 

 fex with very amufing backgrounds. 



There are four other fimilar prints, but of a larger fize, 

 by Callot, which are very finely executed, and which con- 

 fiil of the collume of the inferior orders : i. A Woman in 

 a Corfet trimmed with Fur 2. A Villager fpinning. 3. A 

 Countrywoman walking with a Ba(ket on her Arm. 4. A 

 Woman with her Face feen and Petticoat turned up. " Tra- 

 gedia del Co. Bonarelli," on fixteen quarto plates, with a 

 portrait; "The three Interludes of Florence," in 4to. 

 after Giulio Parigii. Thefe reprefent a feftival given at 

 Florence during the carnival, and are rare, particularly the 

 two latter ; the plates for " A Voyage to the Holy Land," 

 confiding of forty-eight in 8vo. which Callot engraved for 

 a Grey friar, with whom he had formed afriendfliip, and who 

 publifhed this voyage ; " The Twelve Months of the 

 Year:" thefe twelve prints are rare ; they are after Jodo- 

 gus de Moraper, in 4to., and folely the work of the graver ; 

 " The Four Seafons," in 410. extremely fcarce. Thefe 

 prints are copied from four engravings that the Sadelers en- 

 graved after Baffan ; " The current Coin of Germany, 

 Italy, &c.'' ten fheets, engraved at Nancy for Gallon of 

 France, and publiflied at Paris by Ifrael Silvellre in 1662 ; 

 " A Woman fitting in a Field," a child in her arms, and an- 

 other eating fruit, ii feated under a tree, a fmall engraving, and 

 yery rare ; two fmall prints, called by the French colleftors 

 •' Deux Filenfes aflifes," and " Deux Dames qui fe promi- 

 nent," arealforare; " "Two Females habited al Allemande;" 

 " A female Gardener with an Afs ;" and '• An old Man, 

 accompanied by a little Boy,'' are fmall plates, with land- 

 fcape backgrounds. 



The following farcical fubjects are executed on fmall plates, 

 in the fame ilyle as the celebrated " Beggars" by this artill, 

 and with equal fpirit, viz. " A corfiic Figure,'' (a fort of 

 Falllaff, with a large belly and wearing a fword) ; " Two 

 Harlequins," who are dancing in grotcfque attitudes; and 

 "A Buffoon,'' " A Scaramouch," and " A Pierrot," three 

 plates with theatrical backgrounds ; " A Comb Merchant," 

 another comic figure, bearing a pedlar's pack on his back, 

 and holdmg a comb in his kind. 



Topographical and otkr Landfcapes. — " View of the Lou- 

 vre, with the ancient Tower ot Nefle,'' a folio plate ; " View 

 of the Pont-Neuf at Paris," ditto. Thefe are of the bed of 

 Callot's landfcapes. Another view of the Pont-Neuf was 

 engraved byour artiit in 1629, in which the ground was etched 

 by Silvellre. This is a 4to. plate, and the im;;reirions which 

 are (on account of their rarity) moll in efteem, arc thofe 

 which were taken before Silveitre tauthed the plate ; " The 



Vox.. XIX. 



Parterre of Nancy," where many pcrfons are walking, a 

 piece in the long and narrow form of a frieze ; " Tlie Gar- 

 den of Nancy," an extremely rare print, infcribcd Jac. 

 Callot, inv. et fee. ; " La Carriere," the new ftieet of 

 Nancy, in which is introduced a caronfiil and tilting. match. 

 This is alfo in the form of a frieze, and the earlier iniijrefllons 

 are without the name of Silveitre ; "La petite Place dc 

 Sienne," in 4to. ; " The Great Fair of Madonna del Impru- 

 netta," called in England " The Great Fair ©f Florence,'' on 

 account of its having been engraven in that city. It reprcfents 

 a fair which is annually held in honour of the miraculous 

 conception ; and isefteemcdone of the mod capital, as it is 

 one of the largeft of the engravings of Callot, being in 

 length twenty-fix inches and fixteen in height. It confifts 

 of a bird's-eye view over a vart area, which is terminated by 

 the church of the holy Virgin, and more remotely by didant 

 mountai-ns. Within the area thoufands of figures, grouped 

 with apj)ropriate tade and (kill, arc engaged in all iIk' vari- 

 eties of bufinefs and entertainment which is prefented by an 

 Italian fair held under a genial (Ivy. It perfectly fuT<rells 

 Milton's idea of "" 



'^ The bufy hum of men," 

 and is in truth a furprifing prodinftion, (uch as modern art. 

 and modem attention almoll would turn from in defpair : yf t 

 fo fuperior was the patic.it attention of the public of two 

 centuries ago, and the patient (]<iii of our artiil, that Callot 

 copied this print, on account of the groat demand for it, 

 and even, as fome authors have afferted, engraved a third 

 plate of the fame fubjeft, with {i^mv (light variations. 



The fird plate, which was publiihed in the year 1620, is 

 didingui(hed from the fccond, by the words " jn Fhiren'z.a" 

 which appear below at the right hand corner of the margin 

 of the plate, whereas in the fecond plate, the words in the 

 fame part of the margin are " fc FUji-mtia — el excudit Niwcij" 

 which latter word has occafioned it tO be contradiftiiigui(hpd 

 among ooiinoi(rcurs and dealers, by the title of " The great 

 Fair of Nancy." The fird plate may alfo be known to perfons 

 of tade and difcernment, from the fecond, by its fuperior 

 ftyle of execution : there is a certain fpontaneoufnefs, the 

 refiilt of original feeling, in the fird, which could not be 

 copied even by the author himfelf, without fome fymptoms 

 of redraint. The fcarcity of good irapreflions alfo makes 

 it bear a much higher value than the copy : for as it was far 

 lefs fuccefsfuUy corroded with the aquafortis, the number of 

 good impreffions which the plate produced was much more 

 limited. 



A third plate of this fubjeft is mentioned by Rod and 

 Huber, but the prefcnt writer has not feen it, nor does it 

 appear to have been feen, — at lead it is not mentioned — by 

 Strutt. Perhaps the copy by Savery may have led thefe 

 authors into error on this point. The copy" may exfily he 

 known from thofe by the hand of Callot, l)y it« interior 

 merits, and by its being reverfed. " La petite FoiiT," (tlir 

 little fair) othcrwife called "The Players at Bowls," is not 

 properly the reprefentation of a fair, but of a village fete. 

 Peafants are dancing in a ring, and the muficians arc feated 

 in a very large old tree, which Jias all the appearance of being 

 a portrait. The players at bow's, are a group at the right 

 hand corner ot the print. Strutt fays, thai " this is one of 

 the fcarced of Callot's works, and it is very difficult to meet 

 with a fine imprelTion of it, for tlie dillance and other parts of 

 the plate failed in the biting.'' It is an oblong folio, and 

 the proof impreffions, which, of courfe, are mod fought 

 after, are before the name of Callot was engraven. A 

 landCcape, in tlie front of which are two pilgrims. It is 

 in 4to. and without tlie name of Calh.t. " A Sing Hunt :" 



