Stefano Della Bella (1610-1664) - Mendicante che cammina con le stampelle

Condition: Excellent print quality, good preservation with slight traces of foxing and browning;
Support: Ragged-edged paper, small adhesive patches on the back, as shown in the photo
Shipping: INSURED shipping via Bartolini/DPD courier. To take advantage of the insurance coverage, any damage to the piece must be contested and reported to the courier at the time of delivery. Otherwise, it will not be possible to initiate the insurance refund procedure.
Provenance: From a private collection;

Stefano Della Bella (Florence, May 18, 1610 – Florence, July 12, 1664) was an Italian engraver.

Born into a family of painters, sculptors and goldsmiths and left an orphan of his sculptor father at an early age, he initially devoted himself to goldsmithing at the school of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione and Gasparo Mola, before turning his attention to drawing and engraving. He soon began drawing figures and copying Jacques Callot’s intaglios, which inspired his early works.

Under the protection of the Medici, particularly Don Lorenzo, a younger son of Grand Duke Ferdinando I, Della Bella had the opportunity to study travels to Rome, where he stayed from 1633 to 1636; in Rome he met French engravers and print publishers such as Israël Henriet and François Langlois, who greatly influenced his decision to move to Paris in 1639, four years after Callot’s death.

In Paris he quickly achieved worldly success, thanks to engravings commissioned by Cardinal Richelieu; he mingled with courtiers, theatre artists and scholars, while avoiding oppressively grand honors. It was the era of the Thirty Years’ War, some episodes of which he documented, such as the Siege of Arras.

Between 1644 and 1645 he undertook a sea voyage along the Tyrrhenian and Ionic coasts as far as Egypt, and witnessed the naval clash between the galleys of the Order of Malta and the Turkish fleet off Rhodes on 28 September 1644.

In 1646-47 he went to the Netherlands, embarking at Calais, which he depicted in some of his sheets; he paused in Amsterdam, Antwerp and Dordrecht. It is hypothesized that he met Rembrandt, though not documented, of whom Stefano della Bella possessed several engravings.

His love of nature is shown in fresh vignettes: engravings of animals, landscapes reveal a lively and imaginative style, now autonomous from Callot. The human figure is also studied; new themes flourish: topographical maps, capricci (scenes with character), decoration (friezes and ornaments), and military subjects.

Returning to Florence in 1650, he resumed work under the Medici court, serving his patrons; he produced title pages, festival illustrations and views that exalt Medicean splendor. In 1656 he became a member of the Academy of the Apathists. He traveled to Rome several times, where some views of ancient ruins were born; at the same time he continued to send engraved plates and sheets to his Parisian publishers.

Stefano Della Bella left behind over a thousand engravings.