Gaetano Zompini - Le arti che vanno per via nella città di Venezia

Gaetano Zompini - Le arti che vanno per via nella città di Venezia

The Italian Gaetano Zompini, who lived in the 18th century, was a famous graphic artist and illustrator. He dedicated his most famous work to the artists and workers who shaped 18th century Venice. His collection of images bearing the title Le arti che vanno per via nella città di Venezia contains 60 phenomenal printed graphics. The work can be considered as kind of lexicon bringing the reader closer to the professions of the Venetians during the Early Modern Period in pictures and text.

An Accomplished Collaboration

The graphic artist Gaetano Zompini was born in the community of Nervesa della Battaglia, where he later received an outstanding education in the art of painting. He was educated together with the famous Renaissance painter Niccolò Bambini. The artist made frescoes and oil paintings for some of the most famous churches and palaces in Venice. His breakthrough came with his graphic magnum opus. Le arti che vanno per via nella città di Venezia was first printed and published in 1753. Its publisher was Antonia Maria Zanetti. Count Zanetti was a Venetian artist, critic, publisher, and intellectual. The Count immediately saw the potential of Zompini’s outstanding prints. Below each graphic, one finds a short rhymed text passage, which clarifies the profession depicted. These texts were composed by the priest Don Questini, a close friend of Zompini’s.

Venice at the Beginning of the Modern Era

Zompini’s illustrations graphically encapsulated the daily habits in 18th century Venice in an astonishingly exact manner. The highly detailed pictures allow their beholder to travel back to a long bygone world. One can consider the high-quality graphics to be a visual expansion on the comedies of the famous poet Carlo Goldoni. These also told of the various facets of social life in Venice at that time, when its secular power was at an end. Some of the precious original editions of Zombini’s famous work are found today in the possession of a few wealthy collectors. An original print from 1753 was stored in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena.