La Mort sur un champ de bataille [Death on a Battlefield]

1648

Stefano Della Bella

Associated Names
Stefano Della Bella

Artist, Florentine, 1610 - 1664

This is a drawing of a skeletal figure riding a horse amidst a chaotic scene. The drawing features a skeleton draped in a tattered cloak, mounted on a spirited horse at the center. The surroundings show various figures and horses in the background, some in turmoil or combat. Text in delicate script is present in the lower part of the image, possibly providing context or an inscription in French. The drawing captures a scene of chaos and death, likely evoking themes of mortality and the futility of war.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Bert Freidus

  • Dimensions

    sheet (cut to platemark): 21.1 x 29 cm (8 5/16 x 11 7/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2003.88.1

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    De Vesme/Massar 1971, no. 93, State ii/iv

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(sale, Swann Galleries, New York, 1 May 2003, no. 138; via David Tunick, Inc., New York); purchased 2003 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2004

  • Six Centuries of Prints and Drawings: Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2004 - 2005

Bibliography

1906

  • Vesme, Alexandre de (Baudi di Vesme, Alessandro). Le peintre-graveur italien; ouvrage faisant suite au peintre-graveur de Bartsch. Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1906: no.93.

1971

  • De Vesme, Alexandre, Phyllis Dearborn Massar.Stefano Della Bella. New York, 1971: no.93.

2001

  • Talbierska, Jolanta.AKWAFORTY ZE ZBIOROW GABINETU RYCIN BIBLIOTEKI UNIWERSYTECKIEJ W WARSZAWIE / Etchings from the Collection of the Print Room of the Warsaw University Library. Warsaw, 2001: 126, no.305.

Inscriptions

lower center in plate: Ste. Della Bella in. et fec. Cum Pri. Reg.; lower left in plate: Icy la Mort triomphe entre les funerailles...lowe right in plate: Semble n'avoir laissé qu'une seulement...

Watermarks

crowned shield

Wikidata ID

Q76358472

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