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

At the bottom left inside the square outline it is engraved in the image: ' Callot fec.'.
Below, in the margin and outside the square outline, it is engraved:
' The Portraict des premier 23 Martire mis en Croix par la predicaon. de la S. foy au Giappon / soubs l'Empe Taicosam en la Cité de Mongasachi, de lordre des freres mineurs Obseruantin de S. Francois. '.

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

Callot has almost certainly engraved 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, contrasting with the bustle of the soldiers' crowd.

fine copy