- Also known as
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Taddeo Zuccaro
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primary name: Zuccaro, Taddeo
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other name: Zuccari, Taddeo
- Details
- individual; painter/draughtsman; Roman; Marchigian; Italian; Male
- Life dates
- 1529-1566
- Biography
- Painter: worked in Rome. Older brother of Federico Zuccaro. Taddeo Zuccaro, b. S. Angelo in Vado (Marches), 1 Sept. 1529, d. Rome, 2 Sept. 1566 (Vasari), came to Rome c. 1543 ("at the age of 14": Vasari), where he principally trained himself by copying earlier masters. His recorded work before 1553 has disappeared, including paintings for the church of S. Maria at Alvito (Abruzzi) and four scenes from the life of St Ambrose in the (destroyed) church of S. Ambrogio in Rome. His early development can be reconstructed only from drawings. The principal formative influences on him were the façade decorations of Polidoro da Caravaggio, all executed before 1527, and the late style of Perino del Vaga (d. Rome, Oct. 1547). T.Z.'s drawings of c. 1550 come very close to Perino's, but there is no evidence that the two were ever in direct contact. The influence of Correggio and Parmigianino also discernible in some of his drawings of c. 1550 and in some of his earliest surviving paintings was transmitted, according to Vasari, through his master and their former assistant, Daniele Porri da Parma. Until c. 1551 T.Z. seems to have been chiefly occupied with façade decorations in the manner of Polidoro, the most important of which was that of the Palazzo Mattei, completed 1548.
1550-1 employed on minor commissions for Pope Julius III, including temporary decorations for Papal coronation, designs for reverse of medal, apparently never struck, to commemorate Jubilee of 1550 (Louvre 10322, Gere, pl. 8; König-Fachsenfeld Coll., Stuttgart, II 2731, repr. 'Sammlung Schloss Fachsenfeld ...in Verwahrung der Staatsgalerie Stuttgart', Exh. Stuttgart, 1978, p. 176, no. 84) and Papal device of 'Occasion' and 'Fortune' on ceiling of villa outside Porta del Popolo (not to be confused with Villa Giulia: see 'Burlington', cvii (1965), p. 201) previously belonging to Cardinal Poggio, for whom Tibaldi had recently decorated the façade and a loggia (Vasari).
1551, summoned to Urbino by Duke Guidobaldo II della Rovere, to complete decoration of the chancel of the cathedral begun by Battista Franco (not executed). 1552 accompanied the Duke to Verona.
Returned to Rome Apr.-June 1553 (see 'Burlington', ut cit., p. 200, n. 6). Between 1553 and 1555 collaborated with Prospero Fontana (q.v.) on decoration of Villa Giulia: T.Z. responsible for vault of lower loggia of nymphaeum and of ground-floor room on r., and probably also friezes in the three 1st-floor rooms (see 'Burlington', ut cit.). 1553-6, S. M. della Consolazione, Mattei Chapel (1st r.), scenes of the 'Passion', in an exaggeratedly Mannerist style derived from Francesco Salviati and Tibaldi; the 'Flagellation' on the l. wall foreshadows the more 'classical' style that he was to develop in the scenes from the life of St Paul in the Frangipani Chapel (4th on l.) in S. Marcello al Corso, probably begun c. 1558-9.
According to Vasari, T.Z. worked in Vatican Belvedere for Julius III (fragments may remain in one room: see Ackerman, pp. 80f), in Torre di Niccolò V for Paul IV (payments 11 Nov. 1555-4 Feb. 1556, see Ackerman, docs. 121, 124, 126), and in the Ruota for Pius IV. For Pius IV he also restored the Raphael 'Apostles' in the Sala dei Palafrenieri (see BM 'Raphael' under no. 63). 1559, temporary decorations for obsequies of Charles V celebrated 4 March in S. Giacomo degli Spagnuoli (see Gere 71; but also O.P. Berendsen, 'Burlington', cxii (1970), pp. 809f.). 1559, June-Sept., apparently active in Orvieto Cathedral (all work destroyed, see Gere, p. 90).
1559, date inscribed on painting in semi-dome of apse of S. Sabina, based, with additions, on the underlying Early Christian mosaic of 'Christ in Glory with Saints'. 1559-60, with F.Z's assistance, decorated two rooms in the castello at Bracciano (Gere, pls. 122a, b; 123a, b). 1560, returned to Urbino to paint portrait of Virginia della Rovere, daughter of Duke Guidobaldo II who commissioned designs for maiolica service as gift for the King of Spain (see 'Burlington', cv (1963), pp. 306ff, also M. Laskin in 'Essays presented to Myron P. Gilmore', Florence, 1978, ii, pp. 281ff). 8 Sept. 1560, elected in absence to Virtuosi al Pantheon, (Orbaan, 'Virtuosi', p. 21). 1561, decoration of Caprarola probably begun. According to documents discovered by Mr Loren Partridge in the Archivio di Stato in Rome, no painting seems to have been carried out in the period before 20 Feb. 1561, but the ceilings of the Sala di Giove and the four Camerini delle Stagioni on the ground floor were completed by 15 Jan. 1562-Nov. 1562, date of Annibale Caro's letter giving iconographic programme for Stanza di Aurora (Vasari-Milanesi, vii, pp. 115ff.). Sala dei Fatti Farnesiani decorated 1562-3 (see Partridge, 'Art Bulletin', lx (1978), pp. 494ff.).
8 June 1563, contract with Archbishop Cauci Corfù for the decoration of the lower part of the north transept (Pucci Chapel) in SS. Trinità dei Monti (see 1949,0812.9). 11 Nov. 1563, death of Francesco Salviati , after which T.Z. was commisioned by Cardinal Ranuccio Farnese to complete the Sala dei Fasti Farnesiani in the Palazzo Farnese, Rome (Vasari, vii, p. 97), 4 May 1564, initial payment for 'Donation of Charlemagne' in the Sala Regia; interim payment for this and part of decoration of south wall 22 December (see 1946,0713.108).
June 1564 or 1565, visit to Florence, apparently his only one (Vasari), "per un San Giovanni" (i.e., the festival celebrated there on St John's Day, 24 June: see 'Paragone', 205 (1967), p. 57). Vasari does not specify the year but goes on to say that Taddeo, on his return from Florence to Rome, "messe mano alla ... capella della Trinità" and that Federico was still away in Venice. The contract for the Pucci Chapel in SS. Trinità dei Monti is dated 8 June 1563, but Federico did not leave Rome for Venice until after the following October. Taddeo's visit to Florence cannot have been in June 1566, since Federico had returned to Rome in the previous January. This leaves only 1564 and 1565 as possible years.
15 May 1565, letter from Annibale Caro giving iconographic programme for the Stanza della Solitudine at Caprarola ('Lettere familiari', Padua, 1725, ii, p. 410).
1565, deaths of Cardinal Ranuccio Farnese (28 Oct.) and Pius IV (9 Dec), which respectively put a stop to T.Z.'s activities in the Palazzo Farnese and the Sala Regia (Vasari).
Caprarola: stanze dell'Aurora, dei Lanefici and della Solitudine probably completed by end of 1565, since Vasari states that T.Z. had returned to Rome and was at work in SS. Trinità dei Monti at the time of Federico's return on 16 Jan. 1566. The evidence of drawings establishes that T.Z. received the original commission for the high altarpiece in S. Lorenzo in Damaso, probably not long before his death. Federico (q.v.) completed this and other commissions left unfinished.
- Bibliography
- Gere & Pouncey 1983
J.A. Gere, 'Taddeo Zuccaro as a designer for Maiolica', Burlington, cv, (1963), pp. 306ff.; 'Two Panel-pictures by Taddeo Zuccaro, and some related compositions - i: The Adoration of the Magi in the Fitzwilliam Museum, ii: The Agony in the Garden in the Strossmayer Gallery, Zagreb', Burlington, cv, (1963), pp. 363ff. and pp. 390ff.; 'The Decoration of the Villa Giulia, Burlington, cvii, (1965), pp. 199ff.; 'Two of Taddeo Zuccaro's last commissions, completed by Federico Zuccaro - i: 'The Pucci Chapel in S. Trinità dei Monti', ii: 'The High Altar-piece in S. Lorenzo in Damaso', Burlington, cviii (1966), pp. 286ff., and pp. 341ff.; 'Girolamo Muziano and Taddeo Zuccaro: A Note on an Early Work by Muziano', Burlington, cviii, (1966), pp. 417f.; Uffizi Exh. 1966; Louvre Exh. 1969; Taddeo Zuccaro: his Development studied in his Drawings, 1969; 'Two Copies after Polidoro da Caravaggio', MD vi, (1968), pp. 249ff.; 'The Lawrence-Phillipps-Rosenbach "Zuccaro Album'", MD, viii (1970), pp. 123ff.; L.W. Partridge, 'The Sala d'Ercole in the Villa Farnese at Caprarola', Part 1, Art Bulletin, liii, (1971), pp. 467ff.. Part 2, Art Bulletin, liv, (1972), pp. 50ff.; 'Divinity and Dynasty at Caprarola: Perfect History in the Room of Farnese Deeds', Art Bulletin, lx (1978), pp. 494ff.
