Artwork
Fantastic Vases
Fantastic Vases is an ink print by the Baroque artist Stefano Della Bella. It dates from 1646 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Created circa 1646, *Fantastic Vases* is an etching on laid paper by the Florentine artist Stefano della Bella. The work belongs to the Baroque period in Italy and exemplifies della Bella’s prolific output as a printmaker, a medium through which he produced more than a thousand prints and numerous drawings.
Subject & Meaning
The composition presents six oversized vases, each brimming with exuberant vegetation and populated by diminutive figures. Handles take the form of animals or human silhouettes, while some vases contain miniature scenes of children at play or cherubic figures at leisure, evoking a dreamlike, fantastical atmosphere.
Technique & Style
Della Bella employed the etching process, incising lines into a metal plate to achieve delicate contours and subtle shading without the use of pigment. This method, still relatively novel in the mid‑17th century, allowed him to render intricate details and a sense of depth across the crowded, whimsical tableau.
History & Provenance
The print is documented as part of della Bella’s extensive printmaking career, during which only a single painting is known to survive. While the work’s early ownership records are sparse, it remains attributed to the artist’s mature period, reflecting his mastery of the medium.
Context
*Fantastic Vases* illustrates the Baroque fascination with the extraordinary and the theatrical. Della Bella’s choice of an imaginative, oversized still life aligns with contemporary interests in allegory and the blending of natural and mythic elements, a trend common among Italian printmakers of the era.
Artist & collection
Artist
Stefano della Bella (18 May 1610 – 12 July 1664) was an Italian draughtsman and printmaker known for etchings of a great variety of subjects, including military and court scenes, landscapes, and lively genre scenes.
![The Flight into Egypt [verso], by Stefano Della Bella](https://artifactworldgallery.com/img/stefano-della-bella--the-flight-into-egypt-verso--3a100db72e6d25e3-w320.webp)
