Jacques Callot was born in Nancy, where he trained as a goldsmith in 1607. The following year he travelled to Rome where he apprenticed as a reproductive engraver. From 1612, he is known to have stayed in Florence and worked in Antonio Tempesta's workshop; from 1614, he was in the service of Cosimo II de' Medici. In his engravings, he depicted festivities and celebrations at the Medici court. After the death of Cosimo II, Callot moved back to Nancy. Because of his excellent engraving technique, his prints were in great demand throughout Europe. Callot's most famous works are his so-called Capricci, a series of landscape and figure studies, and Les grandes misères de la guerre, a series of 18 etchings in which he depicts the horrors of the Thirty Years' War.