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1971.16
Anton Marie Zanetti I (Italian 1680-1757) Saint Bartholomew before
1749
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PC
1971.17
Anton Marie Zanetti I (Italian 1680-1757) Saint Thomas before
1749
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| Antonio
Maria Zanetti, began his artistic career as a print publisher in Venice,
working with artists like Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and his son, Giovanni
Domenico Tiepolo. The access he gained to many famous works of art inspired
his interest in collecting pieces done by artists of the time. His collection
grew rapidly, and eventually included prints by Rembrandt, Castiglione,
Ugo da Carpi, and Callot. While in Venice he made contact with other important
collectors like Mariette and Crozat, and later he traveled throughout Europe,
fostering connections between Italian artists and the rest of the continent.
Although Zanetti is better known for his collecting and publishing, he was also a very talented printmaker. He studied printmaking under Nicolo Bambini, Sebastiano Ricci, and Antonio Balestra, and often reproduced the works of famous Renaissance artists. Parmigianino was a particular favorite; Zanetti copied about fifty of his drawings which he owned. Although he worked in many media, he favored the chiaroscuro woodcut. This technique was developed in Italy in the sixteenth century by Ugo Da Carpi, an artist whose work Zanetti avidly collected. Chiaroscuro woodcuts differ from regular woodcuts because they are made from two or more blocks that are inked with different colors in varying shades. The darkest shade is inked first, and the next blocks are inked with progressively lighter shades. The higher the number of blocks used, the more the print begins to look like a wash drawing or painting. Both prints from the Wake Forest Collection are done from two blocks, which maintains the more precise look of an engraving. In these prints, Zanetti excluded any background, thus making it seem as though they were done from studies for sculpture. He was particularly skilled in catching a strong light source, usually from an upper corner, to create deep shadows and strong highlights. Zanetti's monogram is evident in the bottom corner on both prints, and it is much larger and clearer than is found in many others of his prints. References:
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