54 - Stefano Della Bella, *The Banquet of the Piacevoli*. 1627. Etching. 255 x 387 mm. Sheet: 334 x 503 mm. DeVesme/Massar, 43. Signed and dated “1627” in the lower margin following the dedication to Giovanni Carlo de’ Medici. An excellent proof in the only known state, printed on slightly thick laid paper apparently without a watermark. Of note on the upper margin is a six-line inscription, in pen and brown ink in old-style handwriting, providing details on the location of the hall where the banquet was held—currently believed to be within the premises of Palazzo Pitti and here identified as being in the Calimala and Mercato Nuovo areas. The text of the inscription follows: “[Piace]voli was a society of very refined young hunters, who wished for their entire group to be known by the name ‘Piacevoli.’ In the month of September, divided into several teams, they would go hunting. / [Gather]ing in the countryside, they would then enter Florence triumphantly, with triumphal chariots covered in branches and laurel, their entire hunt artfully arranged upon them, and to the sound of trumpets they would parade joyfully through the city./ [They] held a magnificent banquet together in the Salone di Mercato Nuovo, which is now divided into many rooms and is located on the corner opposite the corner of the Loggia di Mercato Nuovo, where there is a small door that / [r]ises above the loggia, and it was in that house where one can see the stone cross in a medallion—which is the coat of arms of the Florentine people and the Santa Croce district—after entering Calimala, and after passing the bronze Cignale on the way from Ponte Vecchio and the entrance to the house, it is directly across from the Sdrucciolo di Orsamichele. The biography of the painter Stefano della Bella, who created this drawing, mentions this Last Supper. The floor of the house where the hall was located took / the name “Salone de Piacevoli.” (1) Copy with wide margins of 30/60 mm. Traces of the sheet being folded into four parts; a gap has been filled in the upper left corner; restorations in the lower right corner and along the lower margin. The vertical fold in the center has been reinforced on the reverse. Signs of wear.