The Virgin Mary, Infant Jesus, St. John and St. Joseph

Description

As a collector, connoisseur, and amateur artist, the erudite Zanetti was an important figure in 18th-century Venetian and European culture. In order to make them better known, he reproduced a large group of drawings he had purchased by the 16th-century Mannerist artist Parmigianino. He thought it fitting to use, and at the same time try to revive, a printmaking process that flourished in Parmigianino's time but was dying in Zanetti's own—chiaroscuro woodcut. This method uses different woodblocks for each tone to produce a sense of dimension. Zanetti published these woodcuts, along with several engravings, in a deluxe volume issued in few editions and in a restricted number of copies. Zanetti himself decorated the mounts for each of the album pages, as in our example. Twenty of the prints were dedicated to other celebrated collectors. The inscription at the bottom of our print is to Zanetti's Parisian friend and fellow collector Pierre-Jean Mariette.
The Museum's image is based on one of many drawings that Parmigianino made while creating his painting "The Madonna with the Long Neck."
Exhibition label text for "Venice, Traditions Transformed," September 21, 1996 - January 12, 1997 by Annette Dixon and Monika Schmitter.