Prise de la Ville de Bone (Capture of the City of Bonne), from La Vie de Ferdinand Ier de Médicis série appelée aussi Les Batailles des Médicis (The Life of Ferdinand I de'Medici also called The Medici Battles)
Medium
Engraving; first state of two (Lieure)
Dimensions
Sheet: 7 11/16 x 11 5/8 in. (19.6 x 29.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.4016
Art Historical Context
This engraving, created between 1614 and 1620, depicts the dramatic capture of the North African city of Bône (modern-day Annaba, Algeria) by forces under Ferdinand I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. It forms part of the series *The Life of Ferdinand I de’ Medici*, also known as *The Medici Battles*, which celebrates the ruler’s military campaigns against Ottoman and Barbary forces. The work highlights the era’s fascination with heroic leadership and Mediterranean power struggles during the early seventeenth century. Jacques Callot, working from designs by Matteo Rosselli, employed the dema...
About the Artist
Jacques Callot|Matteo Rosselli · 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...