Frontispiece, from Les Misères et les Mal-Heures de la Guerre (The Miseries and Misfortunes of War), plate 1
Medium
Etching; third state of three (Lieure)
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 1/2 x 8 3/8 in. (11.5 x 21.3 cm) Plate: 3 9/16 x 7 1/2 in. (9.1 x 19 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Edwin De T. Bechtel, 1957
Accession Number
57.650.405(1)
Art Historical Context
Welcome to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's and Prints department, where Jacques Callot's *Frontispiece, from Les Misères et les Mal-Heures de la Guerre* (Theeries and Misfortunes War), plate 1, stands as a powerful testament to 17th-century turmoil. Created in 1633 amid the Thirty Years' War, this etching captures the raw devastation of conflict in the Lorraine region, where Callot himself witnessed French mercenaries ravaging his homeland. As the introductory plate to an 18-part series, it sets a grim tone for the horrors of pillage, starvation, and execution that defined the era's brutal wa...
About the Artist
Jacques Callot|Israël Henriet · 1592–1635
Jacques Callot (1592–1635) was a French printmaker and draftsman from the Duchy of Lorraine, widely regarded as one of the first great artists to practice the graphic arts exclusively. His more than 1,400 etchings chronicled the breadth of 17th-century life, from Medici court festivities to the brutal realities of warfare. Callot revolutionized etching through technical innovations including the é...