Frontispiece for Dialogo di Galileo Galilei
Medium
Etching; fourth state of four
Dimensions
Sheet: 8 in. × 5 9/16 in. (20.3 × 14.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Grace M. Pugh, 1985
Accession Number
1986.1180.586
Tags
Art Historical Context
This etching by Stefano della Bella served as the frontispiece for Galileo Galilei’s groundbreaking *Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo* (Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems), published in Florence in 1632 by Giovanni Battista Landini under the patronage of Grand Dukeinando II de’ Medici. The image captures the era’s intense intellectual ferment, when debates over heliocentrism challenged long-held views of the cosmos. Della Bella’s design, featuring figures gathered around globes, visually frames Galileo’s comparison of Ptolemaic and Copernican systems, underscoring the...
About the Artist
Stefano della Bella|Giovanni Battista Landini|Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany · 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...