"Il Solimano", Act II 1620

Curator: This is Jacques Callot’s etching, "Il Solimano, Act II," now residing in the Harvard Art Museums. What strikes you first about this performance scene? Editor: The sheer volume of labor! All those etched lines—the architecture, the costumes—it speaks of intense, painstaking craft. Curator: Indeed. Callot was renowned for his printmaking skills. But consider also the social performance here; the architecture itself, a temporary stage. The print suggests a theater designed to reinforce power. Editor: And the performance itself? The costumes, are they luxurious fabrics, meant for single use? The ephemerality contrasts with the permanence of this print. Curator: It's a fascinating tension—the fleeting spectacle immortalized through reproducible imagery, shaping memories of courtly power. Editor: It really makes you think about how theater and art intersect to create lasting impressions of culture. Curator: Yes. Callot really encourages us to consider the theatricality of power and the power of theater.