# Peasant Couple with Cow

**Jacques Callot** (French, 1592–1635)  
c. 1621  
etching on laid paper  
plate: 8.4 × 8.5 cm (3 5/16 × 3 3/8 in.) sheet: 9.7 × 9.5 cm (3 13/16 × 3 3/4 in.)

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1969.15.365. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.51518.html).

## About this work

Jacques Callot made this in about 1621, aged 29. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

### What you’re looking at

The image has an elevated perspective showing two figures with animals in the scene. One person is leaning against a tree with a stick, while the other is seated on the ground. A cow is between them and other livestock in the middle distance. A person in the distance is tending to the animals. The horizon is low in the image, hidden by rolling hills. The artwork is in monochrome with fine linework, creating texture through hatching and cross-hatching, emphasizing depth and dimensionality.

_Description from the National Gallery of Art._

### How it was made

- **Etching.** The artist draws with a needle through a waxy coating on a copper plate, and acid bites the exposed lines. The plate is then inked, wiped and printed under pressure, so the line keeps the freedom of drawing.
- **Laid paper.** Handmade on a mould of close-set wires, which leave fine parallel lines you can see when the sheet is held to the light.

### [Jacques Callot](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/jacques-callot)

French, 1592–1635

## Facts

- Type: Print
- The artist was 29
- Real size: about 3½ × 3½ in (8 × 9 cm). The original is small: even the 8 × 10 in print shows it larger than life.
- Century: 17th century
- Subjects: girl, Woman, Cow, Tree, Man
- Colour: white
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1543.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1543/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/peasant-couple-with-cow-nga-51518).