Art Institute of Chicago

The Two Pantaloons

Jacques Callot

Date

1616

Medium

Etching on paper

Culture

France

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

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.

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