Rare 17th-c. Etchings CALLOT Balli di Sfessania COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE Erotic Dances

Description: Offered here is an extremely rare COMPLETE set (24 individual etchings) of Jacques Callot's celebrated (phallic and erotic) “Balli di Sfessania” (Lieure 379-402, Meaume 641-664), inspired by the Italian Commedia dell'Arte all'improvviso. The term "Sfessania" has been variously ascribed to a Neapolitan or Maltese dance, akin to the "tarantella," and by others to a dance of Etruscan origin. Some scholars believe "sfessania" relates to "sfessati" (screwed up). Everyone agrees that the figures' names often parallel those of fixed characters in the Commedia dell'Arte.Frontispiece is in the 2nd state (of three states), and the other 23 etchings are in the 2nd state (of two states), with numbers added to the original plates in lower right corner by Israel Silvestre in the 17th century. Individual 17th-century prints in this series are listed from US$200 to US$500 each. Those offered here are guaranteed to be original on authentic "laid paper" (paper having a ribbed texture imparted by the hand-made manufacturing process); these are NOT the 1920 limited edition reproductions, which nevertheless sell for US$100-150 per plate. Jacques Callot (1592-1635) was a renowned baroque printmaker and draftsman from Duchy of Larraine (northeastern France, with Nancy as capital), important in the development of the Old Master print. Israel Silvestre (1621-1691), who added the numbers to the original copper plates of 2 to 24, was a prolific French draftsman, etcher, and print dealer. Gerald Kahan, Jacques Callot: Artist of the Theatre: “Callot’s masterpiece on the Commedia is his series of plates entitled I balli di Sfessania…. The whole panoply of the Commedia is spread before our eyes, in large detail and in microcosm. Except for five young ladies all of the characters are masked and many of them are wearing a phallus enhanced comically with a cloth draped over it. Swords and slapsticks abound, some characters have musical instruments, and one is brandishing a rather terrifying syringe. Paired plumes adorn most of the caps, and many of the males, except those naked and those in the loose-fitting garb of the comic servants, wear a row of pompon buttons down the center from neck to groin.”Edwin T. de Bechtel: “First came [at Nancy], in 1621, the Balli di Sfessania, or the actors and dancers of the Commedia dell’Arte. There are forty-eight characters, of whom five are women. (Women acted in the Italian Commedia long before they were permitted to act on the regular stage.) Each print shows two actors with their Florentine names. Many are variations of the ‘fixed characters.’ Easy to recognize are the Captain in many roles; the Zanies, Scapin and Arlecchino (Harlequin); Punchinello (Punch); and Scaramouche. They caper and strut, jump and dance, thereaten and insult. Their behavior runs the whole gamut from simple clowning to Rabelaisian deviltry. To suggest the outdoor character of the Commedia dell’Arte, the backgrounds are streets and landscapes with actors, tumblers, dancers, and lute-players, etched microscopically, In the background of [one] is a temporary stage with the audience on three sides; the scenery is a crude piece of canvas help up on poles; four actors are on the stage. The Balli is an incomparable series. The tense, momentary balance of e ach pair of actors is preserved by every detail of costume and gesture, and the grotesque is blended with the relatistic.”Callot Prints from a Los Angeles Collection (L.A. County Museum of Art): “With unerring taste, objectivity, a great comic instinct, and unflagging elegance, Callot combine the fantastic with the theatrical [in the Balli di Sfessania]. The ribald gestures of his actors are relieved by what Beijer calls their ‘comical frenzy.’ One of the popular features of the performances was the use of a mask with an extremely prounounded nose in, as descrie by Bragaglia, ‘forma fallica.’ With few exceptions, Callot’s zanni are so portrayed. A gesture frequently recorded in these prints is the ritualized action of warding off the Evil Eye. Although this gesture was also a signof insult, here among the dancers’ movements it is not offensive but rather is subsumed into the general comical outrageousness.”References:Lieure: “Cette série de 24 pièces est une des oeuvres les plus originales du maître [Callot], datant de la pleine maturité de son talent. Elle a été gravée à Nancy sur des dessins préparés à Florence… Cette suite est très recherchée.” Translation: “This series of 24 pieces is one of the most original works of the master [Callot], dating from the full maturity of his talent. It was engraved in Nancy on drawings prepared in Florence… This suite is very sought after.”PLEASE SEE OUR "OTHER ITEMS" FOR MANY MORE RELATED TO THEATER AND THE STAGE, DANCE AND BALLET, MUSIC AND OPERA, AS WELL AS NUMEROUS GIFT IDEAS FOR THE DISCERNING SHOPPER.NOTE OUR 100% APPROVAL RATING AND BID WITH CONFIDENCE.

Price: 1450 USD

Location: Lexington, Virginia

End Time: 2024-08-05T17:20:22.000Z

Shipping Cost: 25 USD