Cart Horse, plate 22 from "Various Animals" (Diversi Animali)
Medium
Etching; second state of three (De Vesme)
Dimensions
Plate: 3 7/16 × 4 3/8 in. (8.7 × 11.1 cm) Sheet: 3 11/16 × 4 9/16 in. (9.3 × 11.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917
Accession Number
17.50.17-271
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold the sturdy Cart Horse, plate 22 from Stefano della Bella's enchanting series *Diversi Animali* (Various Animals), etched around 1641. This print, now in the Metropolitan Museum of's Drawings and Prints collection, captures the noble strength of a working horse in mid-stride, its muscles taut and mane flowing—a testament to della Bella's skill in rendering animal vitality. The Italian Baroque master, trained in Florence under the Medici patronage and later active in Paris, produced these small-scale etchings as part of a broader fascination with nature's creatures during the 17th century...
About the Artist
Stefano della Bella|Pierre Mariette · 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...