Stefano della Bella (1610–1664)

• Was an Italian draughtsman and printmaker.
• He is known for etchings of a great variety of subjects, including military and court scenes, landscapes, and lively genre scenes.
• He left 1052 prints, and several thousand drawings, but only one known painting.
• He was born and died in Florence, Italy.
• Della Bella was born at Florence to a family of artists.
• He became an engraver working briefly under Orazio Vanni and then Cesare Dandini.
• He studied etching under Remigio Cantagallina.
• The patronage of the Medicis enabled Della Bella to live and study for six years in Rome.
• Living in the Medici palace, producing vedute and drawings of antiquities as well as crowded images of public occasions in a series of sketchbooks.
• He also made trips to Florence to record and assist the court festivities of the Medici.
• In 1639, Della Bella went to Paris and lived there until 1650.
• Della Bella made trips to Holland and North Africa.
• In his final years he produced a number of prints experimenting with tonal effects.
• In 1661 he appears to have suffered a stroke, after which he produced little work.
• Antonio Francesco Lucini was one of his pupils in Florence.
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