Page 77 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

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1607 in Amsterdam under the name of the Engraver, Jacob de Gheyn, whose title in Ital-
ian was Esercizio delle armi per archibugi, moschetti e picche [Weaponry training for
harquebuses, muskets and pikes], since it added cannons and halberds to these weapons
and portrayed training without weapons and with drums.
On the other hand, [there is] the so-called small series (regarding the size of the
format) Miseres de la guerre, six etchings published posthumously by Israel Henriet in
1636 under this title in the trail of the success of Les miseres et les malheurs de la guerre,
consisting of eighteen big tables released in 1633. It was not by chance that the “small”
Miserie della guerra [Miseries of war] were indicated in the inventory drawn up right
after Callot’s death under the most relevant title La vie des soldats without doubt. De-
spite the lateness in their publication, they are considered to be an intermediate mile-
stone in the path which would have led the lorrainer engraver to move his emphasis
from the life of soldiers to a catalogue of war horrors. If one adopts this perspective,
it does not come as surprising that Callot’s numerous preparatory drawings concern-
ing real war (cavalry battles on a plain and deep valley, knighthood and infantry, on a
bridge; attack on a fortress) were not all translated into engravings, as well as the fact
that L’accampamento [Encampment] was the only piece among the small Miserie della
guerra to be rejected from the greater series. Its theme was the life of a soldier (soldiers
eat and drink happily in tents,) which must have seemed eccentric to the Lorrainer as op-
posed to the curvature from malheurs, which he wanted to give to the theme of military
conflicts and their impact on society.
In the “big” Miserie della guerra, only the scene of the first two tables, L’arruolamento
delle truppe [Recruitment of troops] and La battaglia [The Battle], is the war in the
strict sense. Other engravings can be grouped under three mini-series: violence of the
soldiers and scoundrels (plundering of farms, destruction of monasteries, burning down
towns and cities on one hand, and, on the other, an enraging diligence and following
hunt on bandits.) The list of punishments given by the authority to soldiers, bandits,
heretics, etc. (from hanging to shooting, from stake to rack) and tormenting scenery of
the post-war period (the final table is optimistically dedicated to La distribuzione delle
ricompense [The distribution of war rewards,] but the previous ones underscore the sad
conditions of ex-soldiers, who are at best mutilated, handicapped, etc and find shelter at
a hospital, but are mostly victims of farmers’ revenge or wander around hungry, begging
for food in vain.) .
4
Still, it turns out to be hard to acknowledge Callot as a vindicator of the suffering

4 The document and arrangement of Callot’s work Jacques Callot (1592-1635), actes du colloque
organisé pare le Service culturel du musée du Louvre et de la ville de Nancy à Paris et à Nancy les
25, 26 et 27 juin 1992 sous la direction scientifique de Daniel Ternois, Paris, Klincksieck, 1993;
Jacques Callot 1592-1635, edited by Paulette Choné, Daniel Ternois, Jean-Marc Depluvrez, Bri-
gitte Heckel, Nancy, Société d’archéologie lorraine et du Musée historique lorrain, 1992; Italian
Institute of Philosophical Studies – National Graphic Institute, Le incisioni di Jacques Callot nelle
collezioni italiane [Jacques Callot’s engravings in Italian collections], Milan, Mazzotta, 1992 are
very useful. Also see Capricci Gobbi Amore Guerra e Bellezza, incisioni di Jacques Callot dalle
raccolte del Museo d’Arte di Padova [Love, War and Beauty, Jacques Callot’s engravings from the
collection of the Art Museum of Padua], edited by Franca Pellegrini, Padua, Il Poligrafo, 2002.