111 · 8 · Felicità Sartori After a drawing by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta Allegory of Venice c. 1740 Engraving, 40 × 28 cm Inscription bottom left: Giambatista Piazzetta inv e disegno; bottom right: Felicita Sartori scolpi. Frontispiece to Antonio Maria Zanetti (Elder and Younger), Delle Antiche Statue Greche e Romane […], Venice 1740, vol. 1 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Rijksprentenkabinett, inv. no. RP-P-2015-53-9 The goddess Minerva arrives bearing gifts for the allegory of the city of Venice, shown seated on a throne accompanied by the lion of Saint Mark, and joined by the Zanettis, father and son, the authors and engravers of a volume devoted to ancient Greek and Roman sculptures in Venice, for which this image serves as a frontispiece. A draughtswoman turns her attention towards a frieze depicting an animal sacrifice (the Suovetaurilia, today in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. no. Ma 1096) that receives an explication at the end of the volume. Visible in the distance on the right is a backdrop that includes the Doge’s Palace, the columns carrying the winged lion of Saint Mark and Saint Theodore, the city’s patron saint, as well as a corner of the Biblioteca Marciana, which houses most of the sculptures described in the book. Felicità Sartori, a student and assistant of Rosalba Carriera, executed her engraving based on a preparatory drawing in red chalk by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta that is preserved today in the Morgan Library & Museum in New York (inv. no. 1959.3:1). As the title page, it introduces this large-scale publication, a collaboration between the Venetian co-authors and the artist, who were not merely collaborators but friends. Alongside Sartori’s miniatures, a number of her prints survive as well. RE Literature: Sani 2003, p. 496; exh. cat. Zurich 2016, p. 142, Nr. 96. · 8 ·
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