On the death of his patron he
returned to his family at Nancy, where, by the use of his burin and
needle, he shortly acquired both wealth and fame. When Nancy was
taken by siege during the civil wars, Callot was requested by
Richelieu to make a design and engraving of the event, but the
artist would not commemorate the disaster which had befallen his
native place, and he refused point-blank. Richelieu could not
shake his resolution, and threw him into prison. There Callot met
with some of his old friends the gipsies, who had relieved his
wants on his first journey to Rome. When Louis XIII. heard of his
imprisonment, he not only released him, but offered to grant him
any favour he might ask. Callot immediately requested that his old
companions, the gipsies, might be set free and permitted to beg in
Paris without molestation. This odd request was granted on
condition that Callot should engrave their portraits, and hence his
curious book of engravings entitled "The Beggars." Louis is said
to have offered Callot a pension of 3000 livres provided he would
not leave Paris; but the artist was now too much of a Bohemian, and
prized his liberty too highly to permit him to accept it; and he
returned to Nancy, where he worked till his death.
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