Veduta della chiesa per di dentro - Ceremonies for the Funeral of Emperor Ferdinand II.

Literature:    de Vesme/Massar 76 II.

Exceptionally fine and crisp impression. The printing is very sharp.

The second print from the set of three showing the Ceremonies for the Funeral of Emperor Ferdinand II. It  shows the interior of the chair of San Lorenzo in Florence as it was decorated for the funerals in absentia of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. Large figures of Death in different attitudes ornate the columns of five pillars, supporting a fabric canopy. Two altars are visible in the background. A procession of ten hooded human figures holding candelabra in the foreground echoes the vertical repetition of the architecture. Della Bella uses the scale of human figures to render the monumentality and heavy solemnity of the moment. Compared to Catafalco, human figures are here extremely static, but contrasted by the energetic movement of the monumental figures of Death.