4. Daedalus et Icarus novae aves (Daedalus en Icarus zijn nieuwe vogels); 54 x 64mm 

• Della Bella, Stefano 
• Prent 
• Mythologie 

4228149

Prints / graphics

4. Daedalus et Icarus novae aves (Daedalus en Icarus zijn nieuwe vogels); 54 x 64mm

1644

5,4 x 6,4 cm

These mythological playing cards were made in order of Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin, and designed by the famous artist Stefano Della Bella (1610-1664). The 199 cards were designed to teach history, geographie, and mythology to the young king Louis XIV. Seventeenth-century city dwellers bought prints as casually as we buy postcards and weekly magazines, and della Bella’s were particularly popular. Eighteenth-century collectors competitively filled vast cabinets and scrapbooks with thousand-odd della Bella etchings, minute to large. Rather neglected in the nineteenth century – tastes had changed – della Bella’s prints become of broader interest when they are considered as a reflection of his life and times. He worked with his sketchbook and etching needle much the way a magazine photographer works today with his camera. Complete sets of the 199 playing cards are in the collecion of the British Museum and the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.