Who painted Coins [plate 4]?

Coins [plate 4] was painted by Jacques Callot in 1630.

Where can I see Coins [plate 4]?

Coins [plate 4] is held by National Gallery of Art.

What movement is Coins [plate 4]?

Coins [plate 4] is associated with Baroque.

Artwork

Coins [plate 4]

Jacques Callot , 1630

Coins [plate 4] is an ink print by the Baroque artist Jacques Callot. It dates from 1630 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.

About this work

Overview

Jacques Callot, a French printmaker active in the early seventeenth century, produced the etching known as *Coins [plate 4]* around 1630.

Jacques Callot, a French printmaker active in the early seventeenth century, produced the etching known as *Coins [plate 4]* around 1630. Executed on laid paper, the work consists of a sheet displaying sixteen small circular motifs, each representing a coin with a portrait or heraldic device on the obverse and Latin legends with numerals on the reverse. The composition is rendered in crisp, dark lines that emphasize the detailed engraving of each miniature design.

Subject & Meaning

The print functions as a visual catalogue of historic monetary symbols, presenting a variety of figures such as a crowned individual, a bird, and assorted crests. By arranging these disparate coin images together, Callot creates a study of iconography that reflects the diversity of authority, commerce, and heraldry in his contemporary world, inviting viewers to compare the visual language of power across different issuers.

Technique & Style

Callot employed traditional etching methods, incising the design into a metal plate before transferring it onto laid paper. The fine, sharply defined lines demonstrate his mastery of line work and his capacity to render intricate details at a small scale. The arrangement of the coins within a single sheet, each isolated yet part of a collective set, exemplifies the baroque interest in systematic observation and the orderly presentation of varied subjects.

History & Provenance

Part of a larger series of prints that combine detailed figures with expansive landscapes, this sheet reflects Callot’s prolific output of more than 1,400 etchings documenting everyday life and social types. While the specific ownership trail of *Coins [plate 4]* is not extensively recorded, it remains associated with Callot’s broader oeuvre, which circulated widely among collectors and connoisseurs in the seventeenth century and continues to be referenced in studies of early modern print culture.