Stefano Della Bella (1610-1664) - Studi di figure con cammello, Diversi capricci

Condition: Excellent printing impression, good state of preservation with light traces of foxing and browning;
Support: Ragged-edged paper, small adhesive scraps on the back, as shown in the photo;
Shipping: INSURED shipment via Bartolini/DPD courier. To benefit from the insurance coverage, any damage to the piece must be reported and contested with the courier at the time of delivery. Otherwise, it will not be possible to initiate the insurance reimbursement procedure.
Provenance: From a private collection;

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

Born to a family of painters, sculptors and goldsmiths and left an orphan at a young age of his sculptor father, he first devote himself to goldsmithing at the workshop of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione and Gasparo Mola, then turning his attention to drawing and engraving. He soon began drawing figures and copying Callot’s etchings, which inspired his early works.

Under the protection of the Medici, in particular Don Lorenzo, younger son of Grand Duke Ferdinando I, Della Bella had the opportunity to undertake study trips 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 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 frequented court nobles, theatrical artists and scholars, while rejecting honors that were too oppressive. It was the era of the Thirty Years’ War, of which he documented several episodes, such as the Siege of Arras.

Between 1644 and 1645 he undertook a sea voyage along the Tyrrhenian and Ionian coasts as far as Egypt, and witnessed the naval engagement 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 stopped in Amsterdam, Antwerp and Dordrecht. It is hypothesized, though not documented, an encounter with Rembrandt, of whom Stefano della Bella owned several engravings.

His love of nature is evident in fresh small works: engravings of animals, landscapes reveal a lively, imaginative style that has become autonomous from Callot the inspirer. Human figures are also studied; new themes flourish: topographical maps, capricci (i.e., scenes of character), decoration (friezes and ornaments), and military subjects.

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

Stefano Della Bella left more than a thousand engravings.