Antonio Maria Zanetti

Who was Antonio Maria Zanetti?

Count Anton[io] Maria Zanetti was a Venetian artist and art critic, an engraver and connoisseur, and a collector of engraved gems both Greco-Roman and modern, which he published lavishly, in the form of A.F. Gori's Le gemme antiche di Anton Maria Zanetti, illustrated with eighty plates of engravings from his own drawings; the drawings for the engravings, and many of his intaglios and cameos are conserved in the Museo Correr, Venice. His prize piece, a black cameo of Hadrian's favourite, Antinous, which he had pursued for years before acquiring it, was bought by George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough and gained the sobriquet of the "Marlborough gem".

Zanetti spent his early manhood making wise investments in marine insurance, accumulating sufficient capital to support his true vocation, as writer and artist, and as art dealer to the English aristocrats who passed through Venice on the Grand Tour, and as paintings agent for Philippe d'Orléans in forming the Orléans collection, Paris, and Joseph Wenzel I, Prince of Liechtenstein, in expanding the Liechtenstein collection, Vienna.