Stefano Della Bella (1610-1664) - Il suonatore di violino

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/375880
https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/0900341264-7

Type: Etching, finished with burin;
Condition: Excellent inking, good preservation with slight traces of foxing and browning. The paper shows a light and natural browning of age, minimal margins, all as in the photo;
Support: Wove paper with clearly discernible interlacing fibers and watermark sharply visible when held to light;

Shipping: INSURED shipment via Bartolini/DPD courier. To benefit from 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 reimbursement 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 early orphan of his sculptor father, he initially dedicated himself to goldsmithing at the school of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione and Gasparo Mola, later turning his attention to drawing and engraving. He soon began drawing figures and copying the etchings of Jacques Callot, which inspired his early works.

Under the protection of the Medici, particularly Don Lorenzo, the 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 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 frequented courtiers, theatre artists and scholars, while refusing honours that were too oppressive. 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 Ionian 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 September 28, 1644.

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

His love of nature is evident in fresh vignettes: animal engravings, landscapes reveal a lively, imaginative style, now autonomous from Callot. The human figure is also studied; new themes flourish: topographic maps, capriccios, i.e., scenes of character, decoration (ornaments and adornments), 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 splendor. In 1656 he became a member of the Academy of the Ape-Artists. He traveled to Rome several times, where some views of ancient ruins were born; at the same time he continued sending engraved plates and sheets to his Parisian publishers.

Stefano Della Bella left behind over a thousand engravings.