Stefano della Bella

The present work, executed by the artist in pen and brown ink and gray wash, over black chalk, was, until its sale at Sotheby’s in 1930 (see Provenance), part of an album of 23 works made by della Bella, according to an inscription on the album, 'for the amusement of his pupil Prince Ferdinand of Tuscany'. Della Bella was in fact never the master of Ferdinand, who reigned from 1620 to 1670, but rather of his son, Cosimo III, who was eight years of age on della Bella's return to Florence from France in 1650.

The subject of all these drawings, dwarfs engaged in everyday activities, is first treated in Florence by Jacques Callot circa 1612, but undoubtedly stemmed from a longer cultural tradition in the same city, traceable back to the fifteenth century, and to artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Piero di Cosimo, who already showed a tendency to transform figures into grotesque form.

In her highly informative 1977 article Allegorical and Burlesque Subjects by Stefano della Bella, Françoise Viatte brought the aforementioned series of drawings to the fore for the first time since the 1930 sale, locating the whereabouts of 12 of the 23 works that originally constituted this series, two of which are in British institutions - the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford¹ and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London² respectively. At the time of Viatte’s article it was assumed that the six drawings from the series in the collection of Dr. E. Schapiro, Paris,³ were the only sheets to have remained together since the album was broken up, presumably by Hans Calmann. However in 2016 the missing 11 drawings reappeared on the open market having, since their acquisition from Calmann in July 1941, been kept together in the Oppé collection.⁴

The subject of the present work, identified by Viatte as the second drawing from the series, represents a scene of street entertainment, in this case that of a peep show. On the right hand side of the composition stands a showman of optical views, who offers viewers glimpses of the Mondo Nuovo, a subject which, as also pointed out by Viatte, was to be adopted a century later by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo in his decorations for the Villa Valmarana and the Ca' Rezzonico in Venice.

For a more in depth discussion of the series, see F. Viatte, 'Allegorical and Burlesque Subjects by Stefano della Bella', Master Drawings, vol. XV, pp. 354-365.

1. Viatte, op. cit., pl. 12

2. Ibid., pl. 14

3. Ibid., pl. 15-20

4. Sale, London, Sotheby's, Old Master And British Works On Paper Including Drawings From The Oppé Collection, 5 July 2016, lots 20-21, 24-25, 30-32 and 39-42

5. Viatte, op. cit., p. 361, fig. 13