Varie Figure by CALLOT, Jacques (circa 1592-1635) - 1623

1623. From the Collection of Arthur & Charlotte Vershbow. The complete set of 16 etchings including title, sheets 80 x 80 mm and similar, good impressions of the second states (of three or four), with thread margins, occasional small thin spots on the reverse, otherwise in good condition. In four mats. Provenance: Purchased from Hellmuth Wallach, 1957. Lieure contends that the plates were engraved at different dates, but that the majority belongs to Callot's Florentine period (1611-21). He dates thirteen of them (the ones representing the same character twice) to 1617, and notes that the backgrounds added in the second state of those thirteen plates are technically similar to those executed after Callot's return to Nancy. Despite arguing that Callot is named as 'Iacopo' on the frontispiece (a signature, Lieure says, Callot stopped using from 1618, when he started signing as 'Iacomo'), he concludes that the backgrounds as well as two plates (Lieure 404, 405) and the frontispiece were executed after Callot's return in Nancy (1621). Lieure contends that the first thirteen plates of 'Varie Figure' are an early trial announcing the 'Caprices' set (c.1617). Daniel Ternois (see catalogue of the exhibition 'Jacques Callot', Nancy, 1992, No. 285-300) disagrees, noting that the 'Varie Figure' cannot be seen as an experiment technically inferior to 'Caprices': the manner is bold, controlled, and the drawings related to the set are more naturalistic than mannerist, thus contrasting with the figures in 'Caprices'. He therefore concludes that the 'Varie Figure' were executed after Callot's return to Lorraine in 1621. Lieure 201-213, 403-405.