Four Turks, Half Length
ca. 1662
Medium
Etching, first or second state of two
Dimensions
Plate: 3 1/4 × 5 11/16 in. (8.2 × 14.5 cm) Sheet: 6 5/16 × 8 3/4 in. (16 × 22.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1967
Accession Number
67.553.7
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Four Turks, Half Length** Stefano della Bella, a Italian etcher of the Baroque era (1610–1664), created this intimate print around 1662. Measuring just 3¼ × 5⅝ inches on the plate, it captures four Turkish men in half-length portraits, rendered in the first or second state of two-state edition—a detail prized by collectors for its subtle variations in line work and shading. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, this piece comes from The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, acquired through the Whittelsey Fund in 1967. Della Bella, who trained in Florence and ...
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...