Chile, from the playing cards "Jeu de la Géographie"
Medium
Etching; undescribed state
Dimensions
Sheet: 3 1/16 × 2 1/16 in. (7.7 × 5.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of the Estate of James Hazen Hyde, 1959
Accession Number
59.654.19(34)
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate etching from 1644 belongs to the “Jeu de la Géographie,” an educational deck of playing cards designed to teach geography to young nobles at the French court. Created under the patronage of Cardinal Jules Mazarin and the young Louis XIV, the paired each suit with continents and countries, turning a familiar pastime into a lesson in world knowledge. Stefano della Bella, renowned for his lively and precise etchings, translated the of Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin into small, portable prints measuring just over three by two inches. The card for Chile shows figures bearing shields,...
About the Artist
Stefano della Bella|Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin|Henri Le Gras|Louis XIV, King of France|Cardinal Jules Mazarin · 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...