Jacques Callot (1592-1635) - Les martyrs du Japon

Jacques Callot: The Martyrs of Japan

very rare etching in good condition

17 x 11.5 cm

1627

Bottom left inside the square border is engraved in the image: 'Callot fec.'.
Below, in the margin and outside the square border, it is engraved:
'The Portrait of the first 23 Martyrs crucified by the preaching of the Holy Faith to the Japanese / under the Emperor Taikosama in the City of Mongasachi, of the Order of the Minor Observant Brothers of Saint Francis.'

On July 25, 1587, twenty-six Christians, Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries and their Japanese disciples, were crucified on Nishizaka Hill, Nagasaki. This execution is but one of the violent reactions following almost half a century of increasingly fruitful Christian apostolate in Japan.

Callot probably etched his print, commissioned by the Franciscans, shortly after September 14, 1627, the date on which Pope Urban VIII beatified the martyrs.

The arrangement of the crosses creates a striking perspective that contrasts with the bustle of the crowd of soldiers.

A fine example