2 "Amigos' from one source - on using the period iconography

 Salvete Omnes,

I would like to share with you two interesting examples on fair use of art and also on the need for caution when looking at the period art.

Stefano della Bella - Italian artist working until the 1660s - active in Rome (papal court), Florence and Paris (French court), creating his own art in the form of drawings, then engraving & etching and printing his creations. 

MET has this image - Polish horseman, part of the 'Figures on Horseback' (Cavaliers nègres, polonais et hongrois) collection.

Rotameister or rotmistrz Pieczowski in 1645AD

this etching - dated to 1648-53 - , aside his beauty and artistic aspects,  is very  rich in the material cultural details, as it is most likely than not that the actual drawings drawn by della Bella, eg  in situ when our royal Polish ambassador's cavalcade entered Rome in 1633 , served as the source material for maestro Stefano. 

The embassy of 1645 - the royal  Polish ambassador's entry into Paris in 1645 - drawings held in the British Museum, and my posts about them here & here.

Fast forward to the period of wars in Polish Commonwealth -1648-1670s - and this artist Johann Hoffman of Nuremberg combined the original image by della Bella with the head and hat from Hondius. (Hondius' etching was done in 1650AD says this portal)

instead of the mace our king carries a nadziak (horseman's pick)

Also, this Nuremberg artists did not know the reins were not chains with links, but sort of little 'apples'-bells that when in motion created noise and jingle. (there are actual examples of such jingly reins in the Russian museum of Kremlin).

Finally, another artist made use of the della Bella's original -  Johann A. Boner, who created a mirror image by coping the original, with his limited skill and knowledge, and created a busy background for the images, consistent with the tittle.
This time the rider became a Tatar Khan with the Ottoman Turkish army in the background .

enjoy

Valete