Jupiter and Callisto 

Jacob de Wit made this drawing, Jupiter and Callisto, using pen, brown ink, and brown and gray wash. With thin lines, and broad strokes that blend across the surface, the work has an airy quality that is typical of the Rococo style. The relatively informal technique is well-suited to the subject: the dramatic encounter between Jupiter and Callisto from Ovid’s *Metamorphoses*. De Wit was a specialist in decorative painting, and it’s very likely that this drawing was a study for a larger, more finished work, like a ceiling fresco. It is important to remember that drawings like these were not merely preparatory. In the 18th century, a drawing was a commodity in its own right, valued for its immediacy and the sense of the artist's hand. Appreciating the skill required to make a drawing like this helps us understand the hierarchies that operated in the art world of De Wit's time.