The Firing Squad
Maker
Jacques Callot
(French, 1592-1635)
Date1633
MediumEtching
Dimensions7 3/8 × 3 5/16 in. (18.7 × 8.4 cm)
Credit LineGift of Brenda F. and Joseph V. Smith
Collections
Object number2000.89l
Status
Not on viewThe brilliant printmaker Jacques Callot made two etched series on the topic of war. The series from which this sheet is drawn became known as the Large Miseries of War—despite the small size of the images—because it contained the greater number of prints (eighteen). Between the recruitment of mercenary soldiers in the first plate and the granting of awards in the last, various kinds of pillage, destruction, and torture occur. As in the other scenes, a verse caption here helps to underscore the notion of just war: soldiers who steal and commit atrocities receive commensurate punishment. Callot knew well the realities of protracted conflict; his home town of Nancy, in the duchy of Lorraine, was under French siege both at his birth and at his death.
