The Education of the young Achilles or The Centaur Chiron Teaching Geography to the Young Achilles

Etching and drypoint, 1759, lettered with monograms: 'GB C G' at left, dated and lettered on plate, at right '1759/AMZ'. Example in the second state of two, of two, with the dedication to Joseph Smith, in lower margin, erased.

Magnificent example, printed on contemporary laid paper, with “letter GFA crowned”, trimmed close to platemark, in excellent condition.

From the series: “Varii Capricci, e paesi inventati, e disegnati dal celebre Gio. Benedetto Castiglione Genovese tratti dalla raccolta zanettiana. Incisi all'acuaforte da Gaetano Zompini Pittore Veneto. Ora novamente raccolti, e pubblicati” – Venice 1789 – consisting of 12 plates engraved by Gateano Zompini after Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione.

The print shows the centaur Chiron teaching geography to the young Achilees; the centaur lies at centre and holds a compass on a globe whilst looking toward Achilles, who stands on the right with a map in his hand; on the left another centaur holds a burning torch.

The prints have at times been attributed to Zanetti. A letter written by Francesco Algarotti on January 16, 1759, congratulates Zanetti for his success at producing etchings after two of Zanetti's Castiglione drawings at his advanced age. These are the 'Chiron Teaching Music' and 'Chiron Teaching Alchemy. The 'Memoria' of Zompini, that was inserted in the 1785 edition of the 'Arti che vanno per via,' states that Zanetti recognized the merit of Zompini and employed him in various tasks, including working on some etchings based on drawings by Castiglione. According to this account, in order to make the collection more numerous, Zompini invented some new designs in the manner of Castiglione. The title page, produced almost thirty years later, states that the prints were etched by Zompini. The style is similar to his "Arti" but are nowhere signed by him. Some of the plates bear the signature of Castiglione, written in such a way that it seems to have been copied from the original drawing. A number of the prints bear Zanetti's monogram and a date, either 1758 or 1759. There have been various interpretations of this evidence. Many scholars in the past (see Pellegrini 1997 for attribution history) attributed the prints to Zanetti, because of the monogram and the letter of Algarotti. More recently, scholars favor Zamboni because of the style, the title page, and the 'Memoria'. Sopher suggests that Zanetti added his monogram as well as dedications to friends and family that appear in the second state in order to pass off the prints as his own, as a sort of joke. Algarotti would have been one of the recipients who were fooled. Bozzolato (1978) suggested that Zanetti began the work but then turned it over to Zompini, 'without doubt the true author.'