An Old Man Standing (1725): Art, History and Details

An Old Man Standing (1725) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Antonio Maria I Zanetti (Italian, 1680–1757).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

A native of Venice, artist, and collector, Zanetti also acted as an agent, arranging sales and commissions since he knew both the leading artists and the most influential patrons. In 1720, while visiting England, Zanetti acquired a group of 130 drawings executed by Parmigianino, many of which were initially done as models for chiaroscuro woodcuts. Zanetti made his own chiaroscuros after these sheets, helping to revive the medium in the 18th century. Since Zanetti was primarily a copyist, his originality is found not so much in his compositions as in his technique. Previously, chiaroscuro printmakers had used several shades of a single subdued color to imitate the effect of wash in monochromatic drawings. Zanetti, however, experimented with using different colors within a single print and, influenced by the rococo paintings of his day, chose contrasting bright pastels.

Object facts

• Title: An Old Man Standing
• Date: 1725
• Creator attribution: Antonio Maria I Zanetti (Italian, 1680–1757)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Print
• Technique: chiaroscuro woodcut
• Collection: PR - Chiaroscuro
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1945.236

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.