By Anne Leader
Italian painter, engraver, architect, and theorist Antonio Visentini died on this day – June 26th – in 1782 in his hometown of Venice. Visentini became famous through his volume of drawings that were engraved by Vicenzo Mariotti (d 1734). He began to create his own prints towards the end of the 1720s, when he was commissioned by Joseph Smith to produce engravings after Canaletto’s views of Venice. He published them as Prospectus magni canalis Venetiarum (Venice, 1735). A second, larger edition, was published as Urbis Venetiarum prospectus celebriores (Venice, 1742–54). Visentini was a leading exponent of the capriccio genre, creating numerous architectural fantasies that demonstrate his architectural theory.
Source: Anja Buschow Oechslin. “Visentini, Antonio.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Architectural Fantasy, 1764-72, oil on canvas, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice
Piazza Santi Giovanni e Paolo, etching with line engraving, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
San Geremia and the Entrance of Cannaregio, 1735, etching, Royal Collection, Windsor
The Canal Grande from Santa Croce to the East, 1742, etching, Royal Collection, Windsor
The Canal Grande with San Simeone Piccolo and the Scalzi, 1742, etching, Royal Collection, Windsor
Drawing for Engraving in Raccolta di Vari Schizzi, Venice, 1747, After Angelo Rosis, ca. 1747, pen and light and dark brown ink, over faint traces of graphite underdrawing; framing outline in graphite, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1971
With Francesco Zuccarelli, Capriccio with a view of Mereworth Castle, Kent, 1746, The Royal Collection © 2012, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, RCIN 400687