Hoofden van een vrouw, een oude man met baard en van een soldaat met helm

Stefano della Bella made this print, *Hoofden van een vrouw, een oude man met baard en van een soldaat met helm,* using etching, a printmaking technique dependent on acid. To make this image, a metal plate, likely copper or zinc, would have been coated with a waxy, acid-resistant substance. The artist then scratched through this ground with a sharp needle, exposing the metal. When the plate was submerged in acid, the exposed lines would be bitten, creating grooves. These grooves hold ink, which is then transferred to paper under pressure. Della Bella’s rapid, confident lines, especially the hatching and cross-hatching to indicate shadow, speak to his mastery of the etching process. The efficiency of printmaking allowed for the wide distribution of images, and Stefano della Bella, like many artists, used prints to broaden his reach, both artistically and commercially. This democratization of image-making challenges any strict separation of art from craft and commerce.