Artwork story
About Plate 3: a gale in the forest, two horsemen wrapped in their cloaks, the wind blowing, from "Roman landscapes and ruins" (Paysages et ruines de Rome)
The artist and artwork
Stefano della Bella created this small landscape etching around 1643–48 as plate 3 of Roman Landscapes and Ruins. The Florentine printmaker had filled sketchbooks with Roman ruins and countryside during his years in Rome, then developed the series after moving to Paris. Etching let him preserve the nervous speed of drawing: two mounted travelers, thick forest, open ground, and a pale sky are built from lines that seem to bend and scatter with the weather. Publisher Pierre Mariette le fils later issued this particular impression.
The world around it
The image originated during the last years of the Thirty Years' War, as negotiations begun in 1643 slowly approached the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Travel across continental Europe existed beside military movement, disease, damaged towns, and displaced populations. Della Bella nevertheless found a market for portable scenes of Italy among collectors and would-be travelers. The Met explains that the series combines recognizable Roman monuments with invented, idyllic landscapes and ordinary figures. Its countryside was therefore both observed and imagined: a compact escape into Italy made while Europe remained profoundly unsettled.
A detail to notice
Wind is the true subject, even though it cannot be pictured directly. At left, dense foliage breaks into agitated strokes; at right, isolated trees lean hard in the same direction. The two horsemen hunch inside cloaks that whip upward around their heads, and their horses lower themselves against the gust. The Met's overview specifically notes travelers huddling on horseback in strong winds. Della Bella turns a nearly circular landscape into a pressure system: the dark forest pushes from one side, the exposed road opens on the other, and every living form makes the invisible gale visible.
Look closer: materials, scale, and subjects
The recorded object is print made in Etching and held in the Drawings and Prints department.
Recorded dimensions include Sheet: 5 1/4 x 5 5/16 in. (13.3 x 13.5 cm).
Subject terms include Men, Horses, Landscapes, and Trees. Treat them as guideposts, not a complete interpretation.
Collection history and public-domain source
The collection credit line is Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011.
The individual artwork page and official image were verified as Public Domain on 2026-08-23.
No Context Gallery independently uses the public-domain image. The source museum has not endorsed, sponsored, or affiliated itself with these products.
Research sources
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