The image of eighteenth-century Venetian prints is mainly shaped by vedutas of the city on the lagoon and enigmatic cycles of engravings imbued with artistic imagination. This exhibition focuses on Anton Maria Zanetti (1680-1767), art collector, connoisseur, publisher and wood-engraver, in the midst of illustrious names such as Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo, Marco Ricci and Canaletto.
Zanetti devoted his life to art, especially to drawing and printmaking. He actively encouraged many artists in his circle, most notably including Marco Ricci and Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo, to adopt engraving and work on new cycles of prints. He concentrated his attention on the older, sixteenth-century technique of coloured woodcuts, with which he reproduced his collection of drawings by Parmigianino, introducing them to connoisseurs throughout Europe. The exhibition presents the famous views of Venice and the equally fascinating Scherzi, Capricci and Grotteschi by Giambattista Tiepolo and Giovanni Battista Piranesi. In doing so, it seeks to highlight, for the first time, the significant role played by Zanetti within the context of eighteenth century Venetian printmaking.
