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Stefano della Bella

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-989
Author: Stefano della Bella
Name: Carousel
Technique: etching
Material: paper
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 29.2 x 45

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Provenance: Lviv Historical Museum

Information about author

Author: 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 etching "Carousel" is an illustration by Stefano della Bella for the book "Il Mondo Festeggiante". The author depicts a carousel – a military equestrian competition around Mount Atlas. The competition was held on the stage of a theatre in a Florentine palace on the occasion of the marriage of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo III de' Medici to Marguerite Louise d'Orléans in 1661. In the foreground is a terrace that connects the palace's two wings. In the depths of the composition, in front of the palace, there is an amphitheatre whose stage is closed at the top by an architectural structure with an arch and the coats of arms of the Medici and Bourbons. The scene in the centre shows a mountain with two carriages at its foot. Soldiers – infantrymen and cavalrymen – stand in rows. The artist's patron, Cosimo III de' Medici, commissioned the engraving in Florence in 1661.

Inscriptions

At the bottom: "il Principe de Squadre". On the left: "SDBella 1661".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

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