Jacques Callot, designer

On this unfinished print, Callot left two faces without modeling and the background blank. The original intent was likely to complete the background with a
Mediterranean port scene. The traditional title of this print is misleading, for instead of depicting a slave market, the subject is the release of Christian captives from an Ottoman prison. At the left are prisoners descending from a fortress. In the center two well-dressed figures (perhaps the benefactors) speak with a man dressed in
Turkish costume. To the right are several prisoners and a transaction taking place — possibly the exchange of money for the captives’ release. The freeing of Christian captives in Muslim lands was one of the missions of chivalric orders in Europe well into the 17th century.