Putti Playing with Goat

Art Historical Context

This delicate drawing by Conte Antonio Maria Zanetti the Elder captures a lively scene of putti—cherubic figures from classical mythology—frolicking with a goat. The composition evokes themes of playful innocence and harmony with nature, motifs that have long appealed to audiences since antiquity and remained popular in European art through the 18th century. Zanetti, a Venetian artist and collector active in the Baroque-to-Rococo transition, likely created such works as studies or decorative designs that celebrate lighthearted, pastoral subjects. Executed in brush and brown wash on ivory laid paper, the piece demonstrates the fluid tonal effects possible with this technique. The artist builds soft shadows and highlights to model the rounded forms of the children and animal, giving the small sheet (just 18.5 × 22.5 cm) a remarkable sense of volume and movement. Works like this in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Prints and Drawings collection reveal how wash drawings served both as finished artworks and as preparatory explorations of light and form. Visitors can appreciate the drawing’s intimate scale and charming subject as a window into Zanetti’s world, where classical references met everyday delight. Its presence in the museum underscores the enduring appeal of such graceful, light-filled studies on paper.