Stefano della Bella

Stefano della Bella (Florence, 1610–1664) was one of the supreme etchers of the seventeenth century, heir to Callot and predecessor of the great French engravers of the century’s end. Born the son of a Florentine goldsmith, he trained in the workshops of Giovanni Battista Buontalenti and the sculptor Giovanni Caccini before turning entirely to printmaking under the spell of Callot’s example.

Della Bella’s Paris period (1639–1650), funded by the French crown and Cardinal Richelieu, produced his most celebrated topographic and figural work, including the great series of Paris views. He was equally at home with military subjects, ornamental designs, theatrical decorations, and the small genre scenes of street life that show his debt to the Flemish and Lorraine traditions. His prints are held in every major collection of European graphic art.