La grande thèse.

Etching, 81 x 51 cm, laid paper mounted on cardb. frame, signed in plate at lower right "Iac. Callot in. et Fec. in aqua f." (paper sl. toned, some creases near lower edges).

Under cardb. frame (torn at upper edge).

The ducal family of Lorraine commissioned this print, the largest single-plate etching that Callot created, to commemorate the defense of a physics thesis by Nicolas-François of Lorraine, the younger brother of Duke Charles IV of Lorraine. It glorifies the family patriarch, François de Vaudemont, who appears airborne upon a winged horse at the top of the composition, surrounded by four figures proclaiming his Paternal Piety. The final third state without the text below and the lower right corner of the plate broken away, in 19th-c. cardb. frame. Good even impression.
Ref. Lieure 569.3.