Vertical Panel with a Cartouche stacked on top of a Cuirass, from: 'Ornaments or Grotesques' (Ornamenti o Grottesche)
ca. 1650–56
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 6 5/8 × 2 5/8 in. (16.8 × 6.6 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
2012.136.98.13
Tags
Art Historical Context
Stefano della Bella's *Vertical Panel with a Cart stacked on top of airass*, from his series *Ornamenti o Grottes* (ca. 1650–56), the Italian artist's mastery of intricate ornamental design. This delicate etching depicts a tall, decorative panel where an elaborate cartouche—an ornate frame often used for inscriptions or coats of arms—perches atop a cuirass, the rigid breastplate of 17th-century armor.tle motifs of horses and armor weave through the composition, evoking the grandeur of military pageantry and Renaissance revival. A leading etcher of the Baroque era, della Bella (1610–1661) drew...
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...