The Medici Vase, plate one from The Six Large Views of Rome and the Campagna
Medium
Etching and engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 30.3 × 27.2 cm (11 15/16 × 10 3/4 in.); Sheet; trimmed within plate: 30.9 × 27.5 cm (12 3/16 × 10 7/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
109413
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This etching is generally considered the earliest and most beautiful of the numerous renditions of the famed Medici Vase. Created in Athens in the first century A.D. and featuring a frieze of Iphigenia crouching beneath a statue of Diana flanked by warriors, the white marble vase was one of many highly celebrated ancient artworks that the Medici family collected in the 16th century at their Roman villa. In this print, Stefano della Bella depicted the young Cosimo III de’ Medici, the artist’s pup...
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...