The Fair at Impruneta,

1620

Illustrator of both the splendors of court and the horrors of war, Callot was one of the most innovative and influential printmakers of the seventeenth century. This large etching is Callot’s masterpiece from his Florentine period (1614–21), when he worked at the court of Grand Duke Cosimo II de’ Medici, to whom the print is dedicated. The highly detailed scene represents the annual outdoor fair held in the Tuscan town of Impruneta. Callot filled the panoramic composition with more than 1,200 figures of all social classes, most of whom are engaged in or observing largely secular activities taking place in front of the church. In addition to incidents of pickpocketing and fighting,the numerous detailed vignette sinclude the prformance of snake charmers (lower-right corner) and the punishment of a criminal by torture (upper left).