Plate 2: Design for a Frieze with Felines holding up a Garland and the Medici Coat of Arms in the Center, Plate 2 from: 'Decorative friezes and foliage' (Ornamenti di fregi e fogliami)
ca. 1645–50
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 3 3/8 × 9 15/16 in. (8.6 × 25.3 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Accession Number
2012.136.100.14
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate etching by Stefano della Bella, published around 1645–50 by Nicolas Langlois, offers a charming glimpse into seventeenth-century decorative design. Created as Plate 2 in the series *Ornamenti di fregi e fogliami* (Decorative Friezes andoliage), the print presents an elegant frieze design in which lithe felines support a flowing garland. At the center, the Medici coat of arms anchors the composition, suggesting the work may have been intended for Florentine patrons or courtly interiors. Etching allowed della Bella to achieve remarkable precision in the curling leaves, twisting ri...
About the Artist
Stefano della Bella|Nicolas Langlois · 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...