Five studies of hands, plate 5 from I principii del disegno (The Principles of Design)

The accomplished Florentine etcher and draftsman Stefano della Bella produced this drawing manual in France, where he spent over a decade of his career. The book, now disassembled, comprised 25 etchings and was published by della Bella’s principal French publisher Pierre Mariette. Drawing manuals were common teaching tools for artists and amateurs learning to draw in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is a kind of pattern book for the aspiring draftsmen to copy, with concise prints depicting body parts—ears, eyes, hands, feet—and a range of head studies and figure types—children, adolescents, young women, old soldiers and saints—which provide models for students seeking to master the representation of the human body.