Hoofden van drie oude mannen en het hoofd van een kind 1620 - 1657

Stefano della Bella made this print of three old men and a child, using etching techniques, in the 17th Century. Prints like this one reveal the social and institutional role of art at the time. This wasn’t necessarily intended as a display piece for a gallery or a wealthy patron's home. Instead, it was likely a study piece, something to be used in an artist's workshop. The quick, loose lines suggest the artist was more interested in capturing a likeness or an expression than in creating a finished work of art. We see the figures in profile. The way the image is composed in a horizontal frieze, we are reminded of classical Roman portraiture. But the informal nature of the likenesses is very much of its time. This was an era when the academies were rising in prominence and artists were increasingly interested in studying and copying from life. To understand this print better, we can look at how the art academies worked, and how artists used prints and drawings as part of their training. By considering the social function of images like this, we get a richer sense of the artist's world.