Le Maraviglie del Mondo nuovo

This drawing by the great Florentine 17th century is part of a series of 23 drawings, scattered in various museums and private collections. Stefano della Bella was one of the most prolific brilliant printmakers and draftsmen of his time, exquisitely masterful in his command of the figure and tonal values, and highly creative and witty in his invention of figures and compositions. Here, he used delicately energetic ink outlines with selective modeling in gray wash to achieve luminous, atmospheric effects. The series of drawings is likely connected to Stefano's Medici patrons in Florence. The composition and figural types evoke the art and thought of Leonardo da Vinci.

The subject represented here must be understood as an object of its time, and in the context of a very specific 17th-century European social culture. It represents the scene of a peep show of optical views in progress in caricaturesque terms. The scene satirizes the peep show of purported novelties of a "New World," presented by a quack showman. Groups of female and male figures of exaggeratedly deformed physiognomies and bodies crowd around the cylindrical peep box, which is covered by a curtain. Many of the figures on the left bow in eager expectation, while the figures on the right seem somewhat disillusioned. One figure is already behind the curtain of the peepbox at the center. The tall showman standing at right gestures with his right hand to the onlookers to participate in the spectacle, while holding a pointing stick in his left hand as if he were a teacher.

Most of the female and male figures are of short stature, and these the society of the time would have typecasted as "dwarfs."

There is a long tradition in Western culture (in both the visual arts and literature) of poking fun at physical deformity, which, if seen through modern eyes, is highly insensitive.