Les Troupes Forcent la Porte d'une Ville (The Troops Force Their Way Through the Gate of a City), from La Vie de Ferdinand Ier de Médicis série appelée aussi Les Batailles des Médicis (The Life of Ferdinand I de'Medici also called The Medici Battles)

Art Historical Context

This engraving, created between 1614 and 1620, captures a dramatic moment of military action as troops storm through a city gate. It belongs to the series *The Life of Ferdinand I de’ Medici*, also known as *The Medici Battles*, which celebrates the Grand Duke’s military campaigns in defense of Tuscany. Jacques Callot, renowned for his precise and lively printmaking, likely worked from designs by Matteo Rosselli to translate the scene into this detailed engraving, one of two known states. Ferdinand I de’ Medici (1549–1609) strengthened Florence’s power through naval victories and strategic alliances during a turbulent period of Italian and Mediterranean politics. The print’s dynamic composition, with its swirling figures and architectural setting, reflects the Baroque taste for heroic narrative and movement. As part of a larger series, it helped glorify Medici rule while showcasing Callot’s technical mastery, which allowed such images to circulate widely across Europe. Measuring just under nine by twelve inches, this work in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection demonstrates how prints served both as artistic achievements and as tools of political storytelling in the early seventeenth century.

About the Artist

Jacques Callot|Matteo Rosselli · 1592–1635

Jacques Callot (1592–1635) was a French printmaker and draftsman from the Duchy of Lorraine, widely regarded as one of the first great artists to practice the graphic arts exclusively. His more than 1,400 etchings chronicled the breadth of 17th-century life, from Medici court festivities to the brutal realities of warfare. Callot revolutionized etching through technical innovations including the é...