Jacques Callot, French 1592-1635- The Pont Neuf and the Tour de Nesle, Paris; etching on laid paper, inscribed 'Callot fec.' (lower right), c.1630, the plate 16.8 x 34 cm. Meune 714, Lieure 668 ii/iv. Provenance: With Thomas Agnew & Sons, London.;...

Jacques Callot, French 1592-1635- The Pont Neuf and the Tour de Nesle, Paris; etching on laid paper, inscribed 'Callot fec.' (lower right), c.1630, the plate 16.8 x 34 cm. Meune 714, Lieure 668 ii/iv. Provenance: With Thomas Agnew & Sons, London.; Private Collection, UK.; By descent. Exhibited: London, Thomas Agnew & Sons, ‘Old and Modern Master Prints’, 27th June-28th July 1989, no.25. Note: A good, well printed impression before the publisher Silvestre's name has been added. With small margins all around the plate mark. Examples of the first and second states of this print are rare (the first extremely rare). Before the additions of Silvestre's name and privilege, they are, as it were, pre-publication proofs, remarkable, as here, for the richness of the impression. The Tour de Nesle, which dominates the subject, was part of Philip Augustus' fortifications of the city, guarding the point where the river broke the surrounding wall. It was destroyed in 1663. This print, and one Callot made of the opposite bank of the Seine including the Louvre, were known under the title 'Les Deux Grandes Vues de Paris'. Callot drew the scenes during his visit to Paris in 1629 and the plates were etched after his return to Nancy in 1630. Lieure comments: 'Pour les deux vues de Paris, les deux premiers états sont les plus beaux et les plus recherchés'.
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