Editing Jacques Callot (section)

==Life and training==
[[File:Jacques Callot - The Stag Hunt - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.45|right|''The Large Hunt'', a famous technical showpiece]]
Callot was born and died in [[Nancy, France|Nancy]], the capital of [[Duchy of Lorraine|Lorraine]], now in France. He came from an important family (his father was master of ceremonies at the court of the Duke), and he often describes himself as having [[Nobility|noble]] status in the inscriptions to his prints.  At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to a [[goldsmith]], but soon afterward travelled to Rome where he learned [[engraving]] from an expatriate Frenchman, [[Philippe Thomassin]]. He probably then studied [[etching]] with [[Antonio Tempesta]] in [[Florence]], where he lived from 1612 to 1621. More than 2,000 preparatory drawings and studies for prints survive, but no paintings by him are known, and he probably never trained as a painter.

During his period in Florence he became an independent master, and worked often for the [[Medici]] court. After the death of [[Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany|Cosimo II de' Medici]] during 1621, he returned to Nancy where he lived for the rest of his life, visiting Paris and the Netherlands later during the decade. He was commissioned by the courts of Lorraine, France and Spain, and by publishers, mostly in Paris. Although he remained in Nancy, his prints were distributed widely through Europe; [[Rembrandt]] was a keen collector of them.