item details
Overview
From about 1742 Zanetti began including the Vari Capricci in his own volume of woodcuts, the Raccolta di Varie Stampe, writing to the Prince of Lichtenstein in 1751 that he had added prints by Tiepolo, ‘being of a most spirited and piquant taste and worthy of the highest esteem’.These prints were followed by a second series of 23 etchings, the Scherzi di fantasia, which was not widely circulated until after Tiepolo’s death. Tiepolo’s etchings received great acclaim among collectors and connoisseurs, their enigmatic meanings considered a mark of his brilliance and a successful rendering of the term capriccio. In 1774 the French art connoisseur Pierre-Jean Mariette wrote of Tiepolo’s ‘rich and fertile genius … it shines above all in his prints’.
See: https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/807843/vari-capricci
Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art July 2017