CALLOT, JACQUES. - THE "SMALL MISERIES OF WAR"

Misere de la guerre; faict Par Iacques Callot. Et mise en Lumiere par Israel Henriet. (Les petites Miseres de la Guerre).

A Paris, Avec Priuilege de Roy, 1636.

Four original etchings by Callot, published by Henriet who added a frontispiece (title) etched by Abrahem Bosse. Comprising frontispiece and 3 etchings (ca. 59 x 120 mm.), numbered 1,2 a. 3 in the plate. All 4 mounted and framed in two (29 x 20 cm.). Mildly brownspotted.

The "Small miseries of the War" was unfinished - there was only published 7 etchings (the 4 first offered here).
Callot was one of the first great artists to practise the graphic art exclusively. His innovative series of prints documenting the horrors of War (of which his series "Les Miseres et les Mal-Heurs De la Guerre" (Great Miseries of War) is the most famous) greatly influenced the socially conscious artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. For instance its themes and imagery were used as a source by Goya and he is acknowledged as equal to the three great: Dürer, Rembrandt, Goya. It is said that no one ever to such an extent possessed the talent of grouping a large number of figures in a small space, and of representing with two or three bold strokes the expression, action and peculiar features of each individual.
Brunet I, 1488 (17).

Order-nr.: 51722