By Anne Leader
Artist, dealer, collector, and critic Conte Anton Maria “Girolamo” Zanetti was born on 20 February 1680 in Venice. Zanetti studied in Bologna prior to resettling in Venice where he remained until his death in 1767. He worked as an engraver, which led him to meet an international group of scholars and collectors. He collected important works himself, including a cache of drawings by Parmigianino purchased from the 2nd Earl of Arundel, Thomas Howard. These inspired him to create a set of about 50 chiaroscuro woodcuts, which he published in the 1730s and ’40s. Zanetti was also known for his witty caricatures of actors, artists, and others, including himself. He worked with his cousin, also Anton Maria, on a two-volume set of engravings showing Greek and Roman statues in Venetian public buildings. Zanetti also collected antiquities, namely gems and medals, as well as prints, paintings, and drawings.
Reference: Franco Bernabei. “Zanetti.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Landscape with a Town in the Distance, 18th cent., pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1971
Landscape with a Town by a River, 18th cent., pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash over graphite or lead, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1971
The Old Shepherd, 1722, chiaroscuro woodcut, from three blocks in pink, dark blue, and light blue, on cream laid paper, Art Institute Chicago, Gift of Alfred E. Hamill, 1946.359
Man with a Long Pigtail and a Stick, Standing in Profile to the Left, early–mid-18th century, pen and brown ink, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
St. Andrew, 1740, chiaroscuro woodcut in brown and black on ivory laid paper, Art Institute Chicago, Hammill Fund, 1955.1086
Caricature of Opera Singers
Portrait of Anton Maria Zanetti the Elder