The Passion for War from The Passions of Man Expressed by Satyrs

Gillot's satiric bent is perhaps nowhere more evident than in this series parodying the weaknesses of mankind. In this suite of four scenes, the horned forest dwellers indulge in the unbridled pursuit of a range of vices: war, love, gambling, and money. Following a horizontal format similar to the artist's scenes of pagan feasts--with figures gathered around a central herm, featuring a combination of landscape and rustic architecture--Gillot's compositions are bustling with activity and details that are meant to delight with their drollery.
In a forest, around a herm of Mars, a military band clambers over dead and decapitated bodies as they play their war tunes on drums, fife, and horns. At left, a soldier brandishes the head of a captive. Against a backdrop of banners and standards, and with a crowd of onlookers in the distance beyond the palisades, helmeted soldiers with shields engage in swordplay with the enemy. The series was etched and engraved, in reverse, by Jean Audran (1667-1756) and all four bear the lettering Gillot pinxit. although there are no painted--or even highly finished gouache--versions known. Audran published them in 1727 when he offered a set to the Royal Academy.
The drawings for A Passion for Love and A Passion for Gaming are now in the British Museum, London, while A Passion for Riches, which was also in the Greverath sale and the 2000 Sotheby's London sale, is now in the Krugier-Poniatowski collection, Geneva.