An entrance to a fortress in center, a woman with child seated by a fire to right, soldiers gather to right and in center, cannons in landscape to left, title page from "Peace and War" (Divers desseins tant pour la paix que pour la guerre)
Medium
Etching; second state of four
Dimensions
Sheet (trimmed to plate): 4 5/16 in. × 10 in. (10.9 × 25.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917
Accession Number
17.50.17-228
Tags
Art Historical Context
Stefano della Bella, a masterful Italian etcher active in Paris during the 1630s and 1640s, created this dynamic title page for his series *Divers desseins tant pour la paix que pour la guerre* ("Various Designs for Peace and War") around 1641. Published by Israël Henriet, the etching captures a bustling scene: a imposing fortress entrance dominates the center, flanked by cannons in a rugged landscape to the left. To the right, soldiers gather amid the action, while a poignant maternal figure cradles her child by a fire, symbolizing civilian life amid conflict. This second state of four exemp...
About the Artist
Stefano della Bella|Israël Henriet · 1610–1664
Stefano della Bella (1610-1664) was one of the most prolific and versatile printmakers of the Italian Baroque period, leaving behind 1,052 prints and several thousand drawings that captured the vivid essence of 17th-century European life. Born in Florence on May 18, 1610, to a family of artists, he trained initially as a goldsmith before studying painting under Cesare Dandini and etching under Rem...