The Temptation of Saint Anthony

Jacques Callot studied painting in his native Lorraine before going to Italy. He worked first in Rome, and was later appointed to the Florentine court, where he made prints of their festivals and theatrical productions. He returned to Nancy in 1621, renowned as a printmaker of innovative technique. His oeuvre consists of more than 1,400 prints. Callot returned to this ambitious, cataclysmic subject, which he had treated in 1617, just before his death. It may reflect his horror at the plague that had taken his father's life in 1631, or his own battle with stomach cancer.