Jacques CALLOT (1592 - 1635): Les Gobbi - 1621-1622

Price: € 18 000

Complete and homogeneous series of 21 plates including one title, first edition. Etching and engraved highlights to accentuate the shaded areas, approximately 85 x 62 mm each. Plates 279 and 407 to 426.

Frontispiece: Lieure 279, 1st state/2 before the address of Israël Silvestre; The Man Preparing to Draw His Sabre: L. 407, only state; The Cripple in the Hood: L. 408, 1st state/2 before the numbering; The Hunchback with the Cane: L. 409, 1st state/2 before numbering; The Cripple with Crutch and Wooden Leg: L. 410, 1st state/2 before numbering; The Drinker seen from the front: L. 411, 1st state/2 before numbering; The Drinker seen from the back: L. 412, 1st state/3 before the ground on the left is erased over a space of one centimetre and before the numbering; The Duelist with Two Sabres: L. 413, 1st state/2 before the numbering; The Duelist with Sword and Dagger: L. 414, 1st state/2 before numbering; The Man with a Large Belly Adorned with a Row of Buttons: L. 415, 1st state/2 before numbering; The Man with a Large Back Adorned with a Row of Buttons: L. 416, 1st state/2 before numbering; The Man with a Falling Stomach and a Very High Hat: L. 417, 1st state/2 before numbering; The Violin Player: L. 418, 1st state/2 before numbering; The Masked Man with Twisted Legs: L. 419, 1st state/2 before numbering; The Lute Player: L. 420, 1st state/2 before numbering; The Hurdy-Gurdy Player: L. 421, 1st state/2 before numbering; The Flageolet Player: L. 422, 1st state/2 before numbering; The Man Scraping a Griddle for a Violin: L. 423, 1st state/2 before numbering; The Bagpiper: L. 424, 1st state/2 before numbering; The Masked Actor Playing the Guitar: L. 425, 1st state/2 before numbering; Le Bancal playing the guitar: L. 426, 1st state/2 before numbering.

Very fine impressions printed on laid paper. All the plates are mounted with two small paper hinges on sheets of watermarked laid paper (crown, letters C and D, bell; small star) bound in a notebook with blue laid paper cover. The cover has a title piece that reproduces the cartouche of the title plate of the series, with the handwritten inscription VARIE FIGURE GOBBI di Iacopo Callot fatto in firenza l anno 1616.

Very good general condition. Margins of 1 to 2 cm on all plates. Tiny stains or traces of glue in the corners of the margins.

The first plate, after the title plate, L'Homme s'apprêtant à tirer son sabre, is listed by Lieure as rare (R.R.). He quotes Meaume, according to whom the plate ‘was lost a few years after it was etched, and was never replaced by the artist.’

According to Lieure, the title plate, which bears the date 1616 and the words fatto in firenza, was etched in Italy, while the other plates were etched later, in Nancy. He sees this title plate as ‘a true Rabelaisian piece’.

A colourful series, one of Callot's best known.