The Firing Squad (L'Arquebusade)

Date1633

MediumEtching

Credit LineArt History Department Fund

Dimensions3 9/16 x 7 3/4 in. (9 x 19.7 cm)

Object number2001.004.012

Label TextItaly was always a source of inspiration for northern artists. In the early seventeenth century Jacques Callot of the Lorraine went there to perfect his knowledge of etching. He worked in Florence for many years for the Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany recording the theatrical pageants of the court and made several technical contributions to the craft of etching. Recalled to the north by the Duke of Lorraine at the time of the Thirty Years War, Callot created one of his greatest works, The Large Miseries and Misfortunes of War, a series that presents the life of a soldier in wartime, a tale of crimes and punishments.
Exhibition HistoryInvention and Revival: Northern European Prints, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 12 - May 15, 2005
Published ReferencesC.G. Boerner, Leipzig, Kupferstiche radierungen und holzschnitte des XV.-XVIII. jahrhunderts aus der sammlung des Fursten zu Oettingen-Wallerstein in Maihingen und Beitrage aus anderem Besitz (28. Mai 1935), 5, lot 42.

ProvenanceEx coll. House of Oettinger-Wallerstein, Maihingen, Bavaria (Lugt 2715a). With C.G. Boerner, Leipzig, Germany, May 28, 1935, lot 42 (part). With Ben M. Pickard, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. With David Tunick Prints and Drawings, New York, New York, acquired from Pickard, June 18, 1985. Ex coll. Jonathan Meakins and Jacqueline Cox McClaren, Montreal, Canada, purchased from Tunick, July 1985. With David Tunick, New York, received as trade from Meakins and McClaren, March 17, 2000. Purchased for MCCM by Emory University Art History Department from David Tunick, New York.

InscribedInscription: Those who, in obedience to their evil genius, fail in their duty, use tyranny, take pleasure only in evil and violate reason, and whose treason-filled actions produce a thousand bloody uproars in the camp, are thus chastised and shot.

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