Stefano della Bella

Stefano della Bella ( born May 18, 1610 Florence, † July 16, 1664 ) was an Italian draftsman and etcher.

Life and work

Stefano della Bella was initially in Florence trained as a goldsmith and worked as an engraver at Orazio Vanni. The etching of the copper etching he learned in Cantagallina Remigio, who in turn introduced Jacques Callot in his stay in Florence 1612-1621 in the technology further. In particular, the figurative representations Callot inspired the first prints della Bella. For Galileo Galilei " Dialogo sopra i due Massimi sistemi " (1632 ) he created an etching, considered the first Italian Copernicus representation. Erwin Panofsky was of the opinion that della Bella not seeking portrait likeness but wanted to portray Galileo as archetypal scholar. The special promotion by Lorenzo di Fernando de ' Medici (1599-1648) Stefano della Bella enabled 1633-1636 to study in Rome. Here he made with an extensive etching that represents the collection of the Polish Ambassador in Rome in 1633, attention.

With the assistance of the Ambassador of Tuscany, Alessandro del Nero, Stefano della Bella went in 1642 to Paris, where he remained seven years. On behalf of Cardinal Richelieu, he produced series of the English landing on the island of Ré and the siege of La Rochelle and Arras. Stefano della Bella in 1650 returned back to Florence, equipped with a comfortable pension of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo 's son, he taught at drawing.

Stefano della Bella left behind an extensive legacy of over a thousand drawings and etchings, including in particular military battles and hunting scenes, cards and decorations, seascapes, capriccio and animal series. The carcass of the dead in Florence in 1655 female elephant Hansken he held in a drawing.