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Drinker Seen From Behind

Jacques Callot

1623

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Baroque Baroque Allegory

Dominant colour

About this work

You see a man with a hunched back bent forward, drinking from a cup. His long coat hangs down, and his hat shades his face. He stands alone, slightly off-center, facing away from you. This print is part of a series showing people with curved backs, made by Jacques Callot around 1621. Back then, these figures were linked to characters in Italian comedy shows called commedia dell’arte. Callot drew them not as jokes, but with care and detail, showing real people in ordinary moments. He made 21 prints like this one, each portraying a different person with dignity. Look up The Cleveland Museum of Art to see more prints from this series. (118 words)

The story of this work

Overview

This image was published by Callot in 1621 as part of a series of 21 prints depicting gobbi (people with curved backs). The series was titled Varie figure gobbi di Jacopo Callot fatto in Firenza l'anno 1616 (Various hunchbacks by Jacopo Callot, made in Florence in 1616). The figures in the series are reminiscent of character tropes that were popular in the theatrical genre known as the commedia dell’arte (comedy of the profession). As the name suggests, the comedy of this genre was predicated on the assumption that the viewer occupied a different social class than the characters depicted.…

Did you know?

This figure is raising his cup in one hand and holding a bottle with the other. Both the bulbous shape of the bottle and its basketlike encasement suggest that it is made of glass, which was newly introduced for the storage of wine in the 1600s.

Read the full account in the museum source.