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Anton Maria Zanetti the Elder (1680-1767)

A figure of an old man dated 1722

Chiaroscuro woodcut | 17.3 x 11.6 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 809102

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  • A chiaroscuro woodcut from three blocks showing a full length figure of an old man, standing to left, leaning on a long stick, watching his sheep, by a tree. Printed in pink and two green inks and mounted on an album sheet with a wash-line border. Lettered at lower left: P. inu. AMZ [monogram]. del. et. Sculp. After a drawing by Parmigianino in the Art Institute of Chicago (inv.no.27-7752). Bartsch 22.

    The technique of chiaroscuro woodcut involves the superimposition of several wood blocks to create prints with tonal gradation and was used in sixteenth century Italy and Germany, particularly for the reproduction of wash drawings by Parmigianino and Raphael. In the eighteenth century there was a revival of interest in the technique in London, Paris and Venice. The Venetian collector and printmaker Anton Maria Zanetti the Elder was at the centre of this revival. In 1721 he travelled to London where he bought 130 drawings by Parmigianino that had been in the collection of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (1585-1646). He also admired the chiaroscuro woodcuts in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire. On his return to Venice he began to experiment with the technique himself, and made prints after the Parmigianino drawings he had bought in London. His correspondence is rich with references to his experiments in the medium.

    In the 1730s Zanetti began issuing 39 prints as a set with a chiaroscuro frontispiece entitled the Diversarum Iconum together with a portrait etching of Zanetti by Faldoni after Rosalba Carriera, and occasionally etchings by Zanetti, Faldoni and Andrea Zucchi. After about 1742 Zanetti reissued the set as the Raccolta di varia stampe a chiaroscuro, with an additional 30 woodcuts and etchings by Tiepolo. The present print belongs to a set consistent with the contents of the Diversarum Iconum, though the titlepage and portrait print are not present and the album had been rebound in the twentieth century and is now dismantled.

    Provenance

    Possibly Joseph Smith; acquired by George III in 1762

  • Medium and techniques

    Chiaroscuro woodcut

    Measurements

    17.3 x 11.6 cm (sheet of paper)

  • Object type(s)

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