Dr. Anne Bertrand-Dewsnap invites us to go on an enthralling journey: the discovery of a potential (and hidden in plain sight) treasure in an auction house in Hudson, NY. The time constraint of authenticating the art moments before the auction is set to begin ignites a suspenseful narrative that complements the drama which unfolds in Callot's most well-known series of etchings, the Miseries of War. The prints of the series are made vivid - we are presented with several interpretations of the artist's intentions in his realistic, sometimes gruesome portrayal of war in this period (an almost constant reality during his lifetime).
From twenty-first century New York, we are taken back to seventeenth-century Europe, to examine the career of an Old Master, who comes to seem quite modern in his conceptions and innovations. We become acquainted with the realities of warfare in this period in France, the journeys of our artist, the process of making etchings (and Callot's innovations in the medium), and with the steps in authenticating old master prints; all the while being kept in suspense, as the hunt for the reality of a possible discovery unfolds…