Stefano Della Bella

The collection of prints within Bath Spa University collection at Corsham includes a group of Italian prints from the sixteenth and seventeenth century. I have worked on the inventory of this group of prints in order to create a hypothetical exhibition. This essay will take the form of a scholarly catalogue, in which I will explain the possible role of this print collection as well as its significance.

Curator | Josef-Hegenbarth-Archiv, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (May 30th, 2021 - April 24, 2022).

Inspired by the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden's annual theme "Loneliness and Empathy", the exhibition in the Josef-Hegenbarth-Archive focuses on the fool. He makes us laugh, not only at the jokes and pranks he makes to amuse and pass the time, but also because he holds up a mirror to our own inadequacies.
The fool embodies freedom and imperfection as well as disobedience. He triggers longings for an unadjusted view of the world. In this respect, he is intimately connected to his counterpart, helping us overcome loneliness, encouraging reflection, allowing us to empathise and understand ourselves and each other.
The exhibition starts with Hegenbarth's illustrations of Till Eulenspiegel and Don Quixote. These are juxtaposed with depictions of jesters and fools from the 16th century until today from the holdings of the Kupferstich-Kabinett, the Schenkung Sammlung Hoffmann and the Archiv der Avantgarden.
Works by Francisco de Goya, Joseph Beuys, Charlie Chaplin, Pablo Picasso and others, as well as works by young artists Alexander Endrullat and Diana Ludzay, both graduates of the Dresden University of Fine Arts, illustrate the fascination, abundance and validity of the fool as a topic until today.

Tra le migliaia di incisioni conservate presso l'Istituto centrale per la grafica di Roma, molte si prestano a stabilire un dialogo con i libri muniti di dispositivi mobili, nati nel Medioevo con finalità di fruizione che vanno dalla didattica al gioco, dalla divinazione alla mnemotecnica, dall'astronomia alla medicina.

Cosimo I de’ Medici established the German Guard – the ‘Guardia de’ Lanzi’ in Florentine patois – in 1541 and its liveried halberdiers were a constant presence at the Medici court, ensuring the security of the Grand Dukes and their family members for almost two hundred years. The corps was not disbanded until 1738, when the new ruling House of Lorraine replaced them with a Swiss Guard. The lanzi, 100 in number, came from a “Germany” that stretched from the Low Countries to the Trentino in the 16th century. They and their families integrated into the fabric of Florentine society for over 200 years, making their mark on the city’s culture and history. Yet despite that, their being foreigners and symbols of a regime that the Risorgimento and Italy’s “national” historiography long depicted as tyrannical and decadent has resulted in the lanzi being all but forgotten today. So to mark the 500th anniversary of the birth of Cosimo I, we are delighted to offer visitors an initial reconstruction of the Guard’s history spanning two centuries with a display of the iconic items they used (their arms and armour), paintings and engravings depicting the halberdiers in action, hand-written and printed documents illustrating the corps’ structure and its members’ private lives, and much more besides. The establishment of the German Guard marked a crucial step both in the formation of the Medici court, which Cosimo was eager should resemble the leading courts of Europe, and in the integration of foreign communities (in this instance the German community) into city life. Their skills and talents helped to forge the Florence that we know today.

Özet
Stefano della Bella, 17. yüzyılın ünlü İtalyan baskı resim ustalarından biridir. İlk olarak bir kuyumcunun yanında çırak olarak çalışan Della Bella, çok geçmeden ilgisini tamamen gravür sanatına yöneltmiştir. Sanatçı, üretken sanat yaşamının büyük bölümünü Floransa’da çalışarak geçirmiş, aynı zamanda Roma, Paris ve Hollanda’da bulunarak buralarda bir süre çalışmıştır. Sanat kariyerinin başlarında sanatçı, Jacques Callot’nun üslubunun etkisi altındayken, daha sonra Rembrandt’ın baskı resimlerinden oldukça etkilenmiştir. Rembrandt’ın etkisi, Oryantalist figür çalışmalarında da görülmektedir. Della Bella’nın üslubu, Paris ve Hollanda gezilerinin ardından oldukça değişmiştir. Üretken bir sanatçı olan Stefano della Bella geride, sahne için tasarımlar, manzaralar ve savaş sahnelerini konu alan sayısız desen ve gravür bırakmıştır. Sanatçının 1000’in üzerindeki yapıtı bugün dünyanın çeşitli müze ve özel koleksiyonlarında korunmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Stefano della Bella; Doğulu imgesi, desen; gravür; Avrupa sanatı; 17. yüzyıl; Oryantalizm

Abstract
Stefano della Bella was one of the famous Italian printmaker in 17th century. He was apprenticed to a goldsmith but soon he began to turn his attention entirely towards engraving. He spent the majority of his prolific career working in Florence. He also spent a considerable time in study at Rome and went to Paris and the Netherlands. In the beginning of his artistic career he was under the influence of Jacques Callot’s style but later became enchanted by the Rembrandt’s prints. Rembrandt’s effect is also seen on Della Bella’s Orientalist figure studies. His style changed somewhat when he traveled to Paris and the Netherlands. He was a productive printmaker and left very numerous drawings and engravings about theatrical designs, landscapes and battle scenes. His productions over 1000 separate pieces are now in different museums and private collections all over the world.

Keywords: Stefano della Bella; Oriental image; design; engraving; European art, 17th century; Orientalism

Paper presented at 'The Courtauld Postgraduate Symposium 2015: Showcasing New Research' (5-6 March 2015).

This paper explores the changing contexts for the Jeux de Cartes produced by Stefano Della Bella and Jean Desmarets de Saint Sorlin for the young king Louis XIV in 1644. Ostensibly a didactic tool framed to fulfil the educational needs of a young prince, these printed games changed substantially in form and function as they were published in successive states during the Seventeenth Century. This paper seeks to demonstrate how, at each new stage in their material life, the games were appropriated and developed as sites for social performance.

I begin with the context of the card’s creation and the role these printed games, with their unique combination of visual and verbal cues, aimed at in the education of the young French king. The nature of the collaboration between Desmarets and Della Bella will then be examined as I consider how the respective authors each claimed the Jeux as their own ‘invention’. The second part of the paper focuses on the reception of the Jeux from 1644 to the end of the century. I investigate the circumstances that encouraged their re-publishing at specific moments and how successive publishers modified the games for new audiences. As will become clear, the nature of the cards as a game changed throughout this period. They provided an adaptable stage for the social performances of a wide range of ‘players’.

https://www.cairn.info/revue-de-la-bibliotheque-nationale-de-france-2020-2-page-140.htm
L’art des feux d’artifice connut au XVIIe siècle d’importants développements dont témoignent deux manuscrits illustrés conservés à la Bibliothèque nationale. Ces traités, d’une grande rareté, nous informent sur les spectacles accompagnant les fêtes du temps ainsi que sur les évolutions d’un art encore mal connu.

A game of illustrious queens, the Jeu des Reynes Renommées, formed part of a series of four decks of playing-cards published in Paris c.1644. These games were a collaboration between the celebrated printmaker Stefano della Bella (1610-1664) and the author and playwright Jean Desmarets (1595-1676). Ostensibly, the games were produced as didactic tools framed to fulfil the educational needs of the boy-king Louis XIV, however, the games were also published on a commercial marketplace.

In the particular case of the Jeu des Reynes, this inspired a playful critique of the game supposedly penned by a noble Breton woman. Describing herself as a ‘Dame des Reynes’ she expresses astonishment that her compatriot Queen Anne of Brittany was not included in its illustrious ranks and explains how this oversight led to a ‘blame game’ she played with her company on Christmas Eve 1644. They carefully evaluated all of Desmarets’ selections for game, transforming it into an oral parlour game of the kind described in Renaissance handbooks. The body of the letter provides an account of this exercise and it inspired an impassioned response from the Desmarets in defence of his judgement. The rare correspondence is now conserved inside a few later bound volumes of the games, but likely also appeared as an independent pamphlet series. 

My essay for this volume examines Della Bella and Desmarets’ construction of female emblems of rule for the Jeu des Reynes, before discussing its assimilation into the elite culture of adult game-play as described in Lettre d’un Dame des Reynes. The letter’s authorship and ‘female’ character is also investigated in order to reveal the multiple levels of performance at play.