Venice: The Heroic Effort 



AFTER leaving Paris, Jackson and Lewis journeyed to Marseilles, where Jackson 

 became seriously ill and remained for six months, while Lewis continued to Genoa. 

 Regaining his health, Jackson went on to Genoa and then to Leghorn, Pisa, and 

 Lucca, arriving in Florence in January 1731. There, during a stay of several months, 

 he discussed with the Grand Duke of Tuscany a reprinting of Vasari's Lives of the 

 Painters. Jackson was to make cuts for the headpieces, but the project was eventu- 

 ally dropped, and he continued to Bologna, where he remained a month chiefly in 

 the company of the woodcutter G. M. Moretti, who showed him some original 

 blocks cut by Ugo da Carpi for printing in chiaroscuro. He then proceeded to 

 Venice, arriving "three Days before the Feast of the Ascension in 173 1, and was 

 highly surprized to find no one Engraver on Wood capable to do such poor Work, 

 he has seen at Bolonia." Jackson was amply supplied with strong recommenda- 

 tions from Florence, and on showing his work to leading printers was urged to 

 settle in Venice, where a fine woodcutter capable of both designing and executing 

 cuts was urgently needed. Here he also met Count Antonio Maria Zanetti, who 

 was well-known as a chiaroscuro woodcutter besides being a collector and patron 

 of the arts. Their first meeting is described in the Enquiry: 



. . . very soon after his [Jackson's] Arrival he had an Interview with Signior An- 

 tonio Maria Zannetti; from the Accounts he had heard from Mr. Marriette in 

 France of this Man's Work in Chiaro Oscuro, he expected to see some wonderful 

 Performance, but Parturiunt monies nascetur ridiculus mus is a most applicable 

 Proverb on this Occasion. I who have perused this grand Raccolta of Zannetti' s, 

 must acknowledge that they are a trifling Performance, inferior to any Attempts 

 of this Kind in our Times; and indeed it is no Wonder, when we come to know 

 that this Man never used a Press, nor so much as a Hand Roll to print his Works 

 with. Our Countryman says he had room to suspect he neither did cut or print 

 these Works, which was confirmed by the poor Men who performed both. But 

 such was the Vanity of this Author, that he told the Public in his Dedications that 

 he was the Restorer of that lost Art, whereas he only drawed them on the Blocks, 



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