Miseries of War

Jacques Callot established his reputation as a printmaker at the Medici court in Florence, but also worked in France, Spain, and the Netherlands. Rather than being a commissioned work, it is thought that the subject matter in his Miseries of War was chosen by Callot himself under the influence of the Thirty Years War (1618–1648) and related events. This scene of a village being sacked is accompanied by an inscription that begins: “Those whom Mars supports with his evil deeds, serve in this manner the poor country people.”