Stefano della Bella (1610-1664)
The Medici Vase
Etching and engraving, circa 1656, on ivory laid paper with watermark of an encircled head, the second state, a well inked impression, with 1-2 mm. margins, sheet 311 x 282 mm. (12 1/4 x 11 1/4 in), unframed.

Literature:
De Vesme 832 ii

⁂ "Generally considered the earliest and most beautiful of the numerous renditions of the famed Medici Vase."
The young Cosimo III de' Medici, Stefano della Bella's pupil and the future Grand Duke of Tuscany, is shown drawing the Medici Vase; the monumental vase- executed in white marble and created in Athens in the first century A.D.- features a frieze of Iphigenia crouching beneath a statue of Diana flanked by warriors. One of many highly celebrated ancient artworks collected by the Medici family in the 16th century, and kept at their Roman villa.