Back

Return from the Pasture. From the "Various Animals" Series

Stefano della Bella

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-916
Author: Stefano della Bella
Name: Return from the Pasture. From the "Various Animals" Series
Country: France
Technique: etching
Material: paper
Dimensions: 8.6 x 10.6 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: pastoral animal painting
Plot: Pastoral scene
Provenance: Received from the Lviv Historical Museum, 1954

Information about author

Author: Stefano della Bella
Author in the original: Stefano della Bella
Artist's lifetime: 1610–1644
Country: Italy
Biography: Stefano della Bella (Italian: Stefano della Bella; 1610, Florence – 1664, ibid.). A prominent Italian artist, engraver and etcher of the Early Baroque period, Stefano della Bella was one of the most prolific European printmakers of the 17th century. Following the untimely death of his father, the youth began training in a goldsmith's workshop. Around 1623, he moved to the workshop of the engraver Orazio Vanni, where he mastered the basic techniques of printmaking. Later, he refined his etching technique in the workshop of Remigio Cantagallina – the mentor of the famous French master Jacques Callot. Copying Callot's works significantly influenced the formation of della Bella's own refined artistic style.
During this same period, the artist secured the patronage of the Medici family, who supported him throughout his life. In 1633–1639, funded by his primary patron, Prince Lorenzo de' Medici (uncle of Ferdinand de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany), the artist lived and studied in Rome. There, he immediately received major commissions and made numerous sketches of park ensembles, villas, palaces and ancient ruins, which he later incorporated into his engravings.In Rome, della Bella met the French printmakers Israel Henriet and François Langlois, thanks to whom he moved to Paris in 1639. In France, the artist quickly achieved immense popularity, establishing close and successful collaborations with them, as well as with the leading Parisian publisher Pierre Mariette. His etchings were in high demand among European collectors. In 1650, due to anti-Italian unrest in France (the Fronde), the engraver returned to his native Florence. During this late period, he significantly diversified his favourite themes, creating a series of hunting scenes, landscapes with Roman ruins and detailed depictions of horsemen.
Over his lifetime, Stefano della Bella created more than a thousand unique etchings and thousands of drawings. He worked across battle, landscape, animal, ornamental and genre scenes, capturing the events of his time with documentary precision – from the lavish theatrical pageants of the Florentine nobility to the harsh realities of the Thirty Years' War and the everyday street life of European cities. He became famous for his jewelry-fine, filigree-detailed miniature works.

Object description

The work comes from the "Various Animals" series, created by the artist after his arrival in Paris in 1641–1649.
The composition depicts an intimate pastoral scene within a hilly landscape. The main element of the composition is a detailed drawing of a goat descending a hillside on the right, with its head lowered to the ground. With fine strokes, Stefano della Bella masterfully conveyed the texture of the thick goat's coat, its anatomical features, and the shape of its curved horns. Below on the left, two more goats are visible. Following the animal on the left is a young shepherdess, depicted in profile. She is dressed in traditional simple attire with a tucked-up skirt. Under her arm, the shepherdess carries a bundle of brushwood or wool. Her figure is in dynamic motion, echoing the line of the hillside slope.
Thanks to delicate graphical hatching, the artist succeeded in creating volume, rendering the lightness of the air, the play of light and shadow (chiaroscuro), and the naturalness of the landscape.
This sheet represents a reversed variant of the composition from plate no. 14, whereas the direct arrangement of the subject is featured in the collection on the impression under the inventory number Г-IV-915.

Inscriptions

At the bottom of the impression on the left: "14" (the artist's print number). On the mounting cardboard beneath the sheet on the left, there is a sticker with the stamp of the Lviv Historical Museum and the former print inventory number in ink: "Г-4690/88", and above it, in pencil, the current gallery collection number: "№ Г-IV-916/ ЛДКГ". Pencil marks on the mounting cardboard: beneath the sheet on the left – "56", on the right – "95".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Return from the Pasture. From the "Various Animals" Series

Other