Artwork story
About Plate 10: a horse lying down, a cow and two goats, two seated shepherds, a waterfall and a mountain in the background, from "Roman landscapes and ruins" (Paysages et ruines de Rome)
The artist and artwork
Stefano della Bella made this small etching around 1643–48 as plate 10 of Roman Landscapes and Ruins. The Florentine printmaker had spent years drawing outdoors in Rome before moving to Paris, where publisher François Langlois issued the series. Here, a reclining horse anchors a gathering of cattle, goats, and two shepherds beneath trees, while a waterfall drops toward them and a mountain rises in the distance. Etching allowed della Bella to build the scene from quick, responsive lines, preserving the alert touch of a sketch even in a repeatable printed image scarcely larger than a hand.
The world around it
The plate belongs to the final years of the Thirty Years' War. Peace negotiations convened at Münster and Osnabrück in 1643 but did not produce the Westphalian treaties until 1648, so warfare continued while diplomats bargained. Della Bella knew that world directly: a Met Bulletin records that Cardinal Richelieu had sent him to draw the siege of Arras early in his Paris period. Yet Parisian publishers also sold landscapes, animals, ornaments, and other portable escapes. The Met explains that this thirteen-print series grew from Roman sketchbooks made in 1633–39 and mixed accurate monuments with imaginative countryside for collectors fascinated by Italy and travel.
A detail to notice
The print quietly reverses the usual hierarchy between people and animals. The two shepherds are tucked into the lower left and almost dissolve into the ground, while the broad body of the resting horse occupies the center. A cow and two goats form a second arc at right, making livestock, not a monument or heroic figure, the main event. The waterfall is small but structurally crucial: its white descent links the distant mountain to the animals below and leads the eye through the nearly circular composition. Della Bella turns rest into movement, guiding us from falling water to lowered heads, curved backs, and finally the horse settled on the earth.
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 3/8 x 5 3/8 in. (13.7 x 13.6 cm).
Subject terms include Cows, Goats, Horses, Mountains, and Shepherds. 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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