Federico Zuccaro Portrait Drawing possibly a portrait of Federico's elder brother, Taddeo Zuccaro 1560s Morgan Library |
Today's scholars and museum curators are reluctant to endorse traditional attributions of identity in old master drawings. The drawing above has traditionally been identified as a portrait of the fresco painter Taddeo Zuccaro (1529-1586) made by his prolific younger brother Federico Zuccaro (1541-1609). The fact that a scholarly institution at the level of the Morgan Library should be willing to entertain this identification certainly encourages a measure of faith in the tradition. Taddeo had established himself in Rome by the late 1540s. Federico joined him there and became a partner in his thriving workshop about ten years later. Taddeo's own surviving drawings (as below) are nearly all linked to known fresco projects.
Taddeo Zuccaro Study of women 1550s Morgan Library |
Taddeo Zuccaro Study of soldiers 1563 Morgan Library |
Taddeo Zuccaro Flight of angels (with feather) 1556-58 Rijksmuseum |
Taddeo Zuccaro Mythological figures 1561 National Gallery, Washington, DC |
Taddeo Zuccaro Nymphs 16th century Metropolitan Museum |
Taddeo Zuccaro Nude study (recto) 1550 Metropolitan Museum |
Taddeo Zuccaro Nude study (verso) 1550 Metropolitan Museum |
Taddeo Zuccaro Conversion of Paul 1558-65 Getty |
Taddeo Zuccaro St. Paul restoring Eutychus to life 1557-58 Metropolitan Museum |
Taddeo Zuccaro Martyrdom of St. Paul 1557-58 Metropolitan Museum |
Taddeo Zuccaro Joseph & Potiphar's Wife 16th century Metropolitan Museum |