Trompe L’oeil with Paper Money
Joseph Hunin (French, 1770-1851) after Jacques Callot (French, 1592–1635), 1796, Hand-colored etching and engraving
Floating atop a trompe l’oeil pile of paper detritus from the French Revolution, including samples of the short-lived assignat (a form of currency), is an attention-grabbing print after the seventeenth-century printmaker Jacques Callot. Lifted from Callot’s well-known and regularly pirated series of Beggars, the print hints at the dire poverty that is a consequence of putting one’s faith in valueless paper currency. Deviating from the original, the print imbues the figure with a hat and pictures him in reverse.
: Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs
The New York Public Library believes that this item is in the public domain under the laws of the United States, but did not make a determination as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. This item may not be in the public domain under the laws of other countries.
