Taddeo Zuccaro (or Zuccari) (1 September 15292 September 1566) was an Italian painter, one of the most popular members of the Roman mannerist school.

Biography

Zuccaro was born in

Sant'Angelo in Vado Sant'Angelo in Vado is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Pesaro and Urbino, in the Italy, Italian region of Marche. Geography The municipality is about west of Ancona and about southwest of Pesaro. The Metauro river flows through ...

, near Urbino, the son of Ottaviano Zuccaro, an almost unknown painter. His brother

Federico Federico (; ) is a given name and surname. It is a form of Frederick (given name), Frederick, most commonly found in Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese and Italian language, Italian. People with the given name Federico Ar ...

, born around 1540, was also a painter and architect. As a young man Taddeo was to be encouraged by Pompeo da Fano. Zuccaro moved to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

by age 14, and mainly trained himself by copying earlier masters. He succeeded at an early age in gaining a knowledge of

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and in finding patrons to employ him.The principal formative influences on him were the façade decorations of

Polidoro da Caravaggio Polidoro Caldara, usually known as Polidoro da Caravaggio ( – 1543), was an Italians, Italian painter of the Mannerist period, "arguably the most gifted and certainly the least conventional of Raphael's pupils", who was best known for his now- ...

. When he was seventeen a pupil of

Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter who was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Renaissance, who was responsible for som ...

, named Daniele da Parma, engaged him to assist in painting a series of

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es in a chapel at Vitto near Sora, on the borders of the Abruzzi (not corroborated by Freedberg). Zuccaro returned to Rome in 1548, and began his career as a fresco painter, by executing a series of scenes in monochrome from the life of

Marcus Furius Camillus Marcus Furius Camillus (; possibly – ) was a Roman statesman and politician during the early Roman republic who is most famous for his capture of Veii and defence of Rome from Gallic sack after the Battle of the Allia. Modern scholars are dub ...

on the front of the palace of a wealthy Roman named Jacopo Mattei. From that time his success was assured, and he was largely employed by the popes

Julius III Pope Julius III (; ; 10 September 1487 – 23 March 1555), born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1550 to his death, in March 1555. After a career as a disting ...

and

Paul IV Pope Paul IV (; ; 28 June 1476 – 18 August 1559), born Gian Pietro Carafa, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 May 1555 to his death, in August 1559. While serving as papal nuncio in Spain, he developed ...

, by the della Rovere duke of Urbino, and by other rich patrons. He is documented to have worked alongside

Prospero Fontana Prospero Fontana (1512–1597) was a Bolognese painter of late Renaissance and Mannerist art. He is perhaps best known for his frescoes and architectural detailing. The speed in which he completed paintings earned him commissions where he wor ...

in decorating the

Villa Giulia The Villa Giulia is a villa in Rome, Italy. It is named after Pope Julius III, who had it built in 1551–1553 on what was then the edge of the city. Today it is publicly owned, and houses the Museo Nazionale Etrusco, a collection of Etruscan ...

. In 1556, he painted frescoed ''Scenes of the Passion'' in the "Cappella Mattei" of

Santa Maria della Consolazione The Church of Santa Maria della Consolazione is a Roman Catholic baroque style church at the foot of the Palatine Hill in rione Campitelli, Rome, Italy. The shrine is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Consolati ...

. His best frescoes were a historical series in ''

quadro riportato ''Quadro riportato'' (plural ''quadri riportati'') is the Italian phrase for "carried picture" or "transported paintings". It is used in art to describe gold-framed easel paintings or framed paintings that are seen in a normal perspective and pain ...

'' painted on the walls and ceiling of

Villa Farnese The Villa Farnese, also known as Villa Caprarola, is a pentagonal mansion in the town of Caprarola in the province of Viterbo, Northern Lazio, Italy, approximately north-west of Rome, originally commissioned and owned by the House of Farnese. A p ...

Caprarola Caprarola is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Viterbo, in the Lazio region of central Italy. The village is situated in a range of volcanic hills known as the Cimini Mounts. The town is home to the large Renaissance mansion or villa ...

, built for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese,"Taddeo Zuccaro", Getty Museum Collection
/ref> for which Zuccaro also designed a great quantity of rich decorations in stucco relief after the style of

Giulio Romano Giulio Pippi ( – 1 November 1546), known as Giulio Romano and Jules Romain ( , ; ), was an Italian Renaissance painter and architect. He was a pupil of Raphael, and his stylistic deviations from High Renaissance classicism help define the ...

and other pupils of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

. He also painted ''Histories of Alexander'' in the

Castello Orsini Castello Orsini (Italian for ''Orsini Castle'') is a Middle Ages castle in Massa d'Albe, Province of L'Aquila (Abruzzo). History The castle is located near the archaeological site marked by the remnants of the Equi settlement of Alba Fucens, ...

Bracciano Bracciano is a small town in the Italian region of Lazio, northwest of Rome. The town is famous for its volcanic lake (Lake Bracciano, Lago di Bracciano or "Sabatino", the eighth largest lake in Italy) and for a particularly well-preserved medie ...

. Nearly all his paintings were large, rapidly executed frescos, often in chiaroscuro or monochrome. Zuccaro borrowed elements from both the High Renaissance style and Mannerism, combining figures of natural proportion and idealized form with intense emotion. Stylistically, he also displays a Mannerist taste for sculpted physicality characteristic of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work '' Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ide ...

praised his compositional skill and the refined fluidity and vigour of his style, singling out his treatment of heads, hands and nudes. Zuccaro's easel pictures are less common than his decorative frescoes. A small painting on copper of the ''Adoration of the Shepherds'', formerly in the collection of James II, is now at

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

. The Caprarola frescoes were engraved and published by Prenner, ''Illustri Fatti Farnesiani Coloriti nel Real Palazzo di Caprarola'' (Rome, 1748–50). Around 1558, he painted a ceiling fresco, ''The Martyrdom of Saint Paul'', in the Frangipani Chapel in

San Marcello al Corso San Marcello al Corso, is an ancient titular and conventual church in Rome, Italy. It has been served by friars of the Servite Order since c. 1375 and is the headquarters of their General Curia. The cardinal-protector of the church is norma ...

in Rome."The Martyrdom of Saint Paul", The Metropolitan Museum of Art
/ref> Tomb of Taddeo and Federico Zuccaro

He died in Rome in 1566, and was buried in the Pantheon, not far from Raphael.

References

External links

*
Getty Museum Exhibition Taddeo and Federico Zuccaro: Artist Brothers in Rome
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zuccari Taddeo 1529 births 1566 deaths People from the Province of Pesaro and Urbino 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian Mannerist painters Sibling artists