Stella, James

Stella, James, a French painter, was born at Lyons in 1596. At the age of twenty, being at Florence, he was assigned lodgings and a pension by duke Cosmo de' Medici. After remaining here several years, he went to Rome, Milan, and finally to Paris, where Richelieu presented him to the king, who honored him with the Order of St. Michael and ordered several large paintings. He died in 1647. While at Paris he spent his winter; evenings designing the Histories of the Holy Scriptures. He also painted the holy Family, of which a fine engraving was made.