Lot Essay
This is one of a group of twenty three drawings once bound in an album entitled Le Miraviglie del Mondo nuovo fatti per il Divertimento del Principe Fernando di Toscana di lui Scolaro formerly in the collection of the Marquess of Cholmondeley. Sir John Pope-Hennessy records that he was once offered the complete album but did not buy it. Later when he saw 'the others [drawings] come up singly for sale, I kick[ed] myself for this economy', Pope-Hennessy, op. cit., p. 314. The album was offered to Sir John during the Second World War, but must have been broken up as early as 1941, when one of the drawings entered the Ashmolean Museum.
The series owes its title to an inscription on one of the drawings from the series, sold at Christie's, New York, 9 June 1981, lot 37, depicting a group of dwarfs standing around a peep show publicized by the sign 'Le Maravigle del Mondo Nuovo', Viatte, pl. 11.
The title was completed with the information provided by the label attached to the present drawing. The label states that the series was drawn for the Grand Duke Ferdinand of Tuscany and describes him as the pupil of Stefano, however, the Grand Duke Ferdinand who reigned from 1620-1670, was never taught by the master. As Françoise Viatte pointed out, it was the Grande Duke's son, Cosimo, later Grand Duke Cosimo III who Stefano was appointed to as the drawing master in 1650, Viatte, p. 355.
The series can thus be dated to the years after the artist returned to Italy and more precisely to the late 1650s by comparison of the technique with that of the costume designs drawn by Stefano for l Pazzo per forza performed in 1658, when the master worked for the Accademia degli Immobili, Ph.D. Massar, Costume Drawings by Stefano della Bella for the Florentine Theater, Master Drawings, 1970, VIII, pls. 4a-9.
Other drawings known from the series include a Parade of Dwarf Soldiers in the Ashmolean Museum, An Oriental Audience in a New York private collection, a Dwarf's Ball Game in the Victoria and Albert Museum and six formerly in the Shapiro collection, Viatte, pl. 12-20. A further drawing of a Procession of Dwarfs as Turkish Horsemen and their Retinue was sold at Christie's, 7 January 1981, lot 53, illustrated.
Although the theme of grotesque figures can be traced back to artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Francesco del Cossa and Piero di Cosimo in the late 15th Century, and more particularly in Florence to the dwarf-like figures found in anonymous prints such as that of the Grotesque Heads of a Man and a Woman with the motto 'Dammi Conforto' (Illustrated Bartsch, XIII, 144) or La vecchia dalle salcisse (Hind 1938, no. B.III.12), it was only from the early 17th Century that this type of subject became popular in Florence. It coincided with a fashion for dwarf masquerades which around that time were a feature of festivities. Dwarf performances were a common type of spectacle in festivities: a dwarfs' race was organized on the via Ghibellina in August 1615 and jousting dwarfs performed at the carnivals in 1635 and 1651. Such events soon attracted artists' attention: Callot engraved his series of Famosa Giostra de'Gobbi on the occasion of horse races and tournaments with dwarfs that took place in Florence on 6 July 1612, Viatte, pp. 356-7. Other examples of Florentine draughtsmanship of subjects involving dwarfs are watercolors by Baccio del Bianco and Stefano della Bella from an album in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Florence, A. Arcangeli in Il Seicento Fiorentino, exhib. cat., Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, 1987, no. 2.159, pls. XX-XXV.
Callot or Baccio del Bianco's intentions are purely comical: dwarfs were depicted with unusual deformities performing unusual actions whereas Stefano's intentions were more satirical. Stefano's dwarfs are engaged in day-to-day activities and perform them normally. The dwarfs are not depicted in a more derisive way than other human beings. It is the vanity of these activities that Stefano criticizes by using dwarfs, 'their role is one of mockery', Viatte, p. 356.
Another inaccuracy in the inscription on the attached label is a reference to a bambocciate. The term originated in Rome from genre themes painted by Dutch and Flemish artists, the fashion of which had been set by Pieter van Laer, called il Bamboccio. However, few Italian artists belonged to this movement, and virtually no Florentines participated in it. This series would be the only example of a Florentine bambocciate.
The series owes its title to an inscription on one of the drawings from the series, sold at Christie's, New York, 9 June 1981, lot 37, depicting a group of dwarfs standing around a peep show publicized by the sign 'Le Maravigle del Mondo Nuovo', Viatte, pl. 11.
The title was completed with the information provided by the label attached to the present drawing. The label states that the series was drawn for the Grand Duke Ferdinand of Tuscany and describes him as the pupil of Stefano, however, the Grand Duke Ferdinand who reigned from 1620-1670, was never taught by the master. As Françoise Viatte pointed out, it was the Grande Duke's son, Cosimo, later Grand Duke Cosimo III who Stefano was appointed to as the drawing master in 1650, Viatte, p. 355.
The series can thus be dated to the years after the artist returned to Italy and more precisely to the late 1650s by comparison of the technique with that of the costume designs drawn by Stefano for l Pazzo per forza performed in 1658, when the master worked for the Accademia degli Immobili, Ph.D. Massar, Costume Drawings by Stefano della Bella for the Florentine Theater, Master Drawings, 1970, VIII, pls. 4a-9.
Other drawings known from the series include a Parade of Dwarf Soldiers in the Ashmolean Museum, An Oriental Audience in a New York private collection, a Dwarf's Ball Game in the Victoria and Albert Museum and six formerly in the Shapiro collection, Viatte, pl. 12-20. A further drawing of a Procession of Dwarfs as Turkish Horsemen and their Retinue was sold at Christie's, 7 January 1981, lot 53, illustrated.
Although the theme of grotesque figures can be traced back to artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Francesco del Cossa and Piero di Cosimo in the late 15th Century, and more particularly in Florence to the dwarf-like figures found in anonymous prints such as that of the Grotesque Heads of a Man and a Woman with the motto 'Dammi Conforto' (Illustrated Bartsch, XIII, 144) or La vecchia dalle salcisse (Hind 1938, no. B.III.12), it was only from the early 17th Century that this type of subject became popular in Florence. It coincided with a fashion for dwarf masquerades which around that time were a feature of festivities. Dwarf performances were a common type of spectacle in festivities: a dwarfs' race was organized on the via Ghibellina in August 1615 and jousting dwarfs performed at the carnivals in 1635 and 1651. Such events soon attracted artists' attention: Callot engraved his series of Famosa Giostra de'Gobbi on the occasion of horse races and tournaments with dwarfs that took place in Florence on 6 July 1612, Viatte, pp. 356-7. Other examples of Florentine draughtsmanship of subjects involving dwarfs are watercolors by Baccio del Bianco and Stefano della Bella from an album in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Florence, A. Arcangeli in Il Seicento Fiorentino, exhib. cat., Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, 1987, no. 2.159, pls. XX-XXV.
Callot or Baccio del Bianco's intentions are purely comical: dwarfs were depicted with unusual deformities performing unusual actions whereas Stefano's intentions were more satirical. Stefano's dwarfs are engaged in day-to-day activities and perform them normally. The dwarfs are not depicted in a more derisive way than other human beings. It is the vanity of these activities that Stefano criticizes by using dwarfs, 'their role is one of mockery', Viatte, p. 356.
Another inaccuracy in the inscription on the attached label is a reference to a bambocciate. The term originated in Rome from genre themes painted by Dutch and Flemish artists, the fashion of which had been set by Pieter van Laer, called il Bamboccio. However, few Italian artists belonged to this movement, and virtually no Florentines participated in it. This series would be the only example of a Florentine bambocciate.