Venice was a great center of glyptic production in the eighteenth century: yet it is difficult to recreate this complex and articulated reality with precision. This contribution reconstructs famous collections of gems, such as those of Anton Maria Zanetti, Joseph Smith and Richard Worsley; or little known, of which there are only traces, such as that of Bartolomeo Vitturi. The production of engravers in Venice is reassembled: valid artistic personalities, then esteemed, socially well integrated, instead now neglected, little studied; of their works there is almost nothing left. Some engravers traveled and settled in other cities in search of experiences and clients. Various gems of the best known, a model for engravers, preserved in prestigious collections, but mostly dispersed, are also examined. The result is an extremely rich and varied glyptic environment, characterized by intense relationships between collectors and engravers.
