The Miseries and Misfortunes of War

Eyewitness to the great European catastrophe of the 17th century, the Thirty Years’ War, the artist Jacques Callot (b. 1592), born in Nancy, published his most famous work in 1633. In a series of 18 etchings, he presents uncompromising and detailed depictions of the horrors of this war, which devastated extensive areas of Europe and cost millions of lives. This year we celebrate the 375th anniversary of the Peace of Westphalia. Callot himself did not live to see the end of the war. He died in 1635 in his home city of Nancy.

We invite you to listen to a modern translation of the original 17th-century captions written by Abbot Michel de Marolles (1600-1681) to accompany the prints.