Ostrich hunt, from 'Animal hunts' (Chasses à différents animaux)
ca. 1654
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet (trimmed to plate): 6 5/16 × 8 5/8 in. (16.1 × 21.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1957
Accession Number
57.585.6
Tags
Art Historical Context
Stefano della Bella, a 17th-century Italian etcher who worked extensively in France, created *Ostrich Hunt* around 1654 as part of his dynamic series *Animal Hunts* (*Chasses à différents animaux*). This etching captures the thrill of an exotic chase, featuring hunters on horseback pursuing ostriches with dogs in hot pursuit. The scene reflects the Baroque era's fascination with movement, spectacle, and the grandeur of the hunt—a popular motif among European nobility, evoking both real aristocratic pastimes and imaginative encounters with far-off wildlife. Rendered in etching, a technique del...
About the Artist
Stefano della Bella · 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...