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, 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, most commonly found in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. People with the given name Federico Artists * Federico Ágreda, Venezuelan composer and DJ. * Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, r ...

, born around 1540, was also a painter and architect. As a young man Taddeo was to be encouraged by

Pompeo da Fano Pompeo Morganti, also known as Pompeo da Fano (circa 1494 - 1568) was an Italian painter, active in the Marche. He was born in Fano, the son of the painter Bartolomeo Morganti, also known as ''Bartolomeo di Matteo de' Marescalchi''. Pompeo contr ...

.Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architetti
Second volume, by Giorgio Vasari, curated by F Ranalli, in Florence, 1848, page 1315. Zuccaro moved to Rome by age 14, and he succeeded at an early age in gaining a knowledge of painting and in finding patrons to employ him. When he was seventeen a pupil of Correggio, named

Daniele da Parma Daniele is an Hebrew male given name, the cognate of the English name Daniel. Danièle is a French language, French female given name, an alternative spelling of Danielle. Men with the given name Daniele * Daniele Bracciali (born 1978), Italian ...

, engaged him to assist in painting a series of

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' 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 plaste ...

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 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 ( la, Iulius PP. III; it, Giulio 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 7 February 1550 to his death in March 155 ...

and Paul IV, by the della Rovere duke of Urbino, and by other rich patrons. He is documented to have worked alongside Prospero Fontana in decorating the Villa Giulia. In 1556, he painted frescoed ''Scenes of the Passion'' in the "Cappella Mattei" of

Santa Maria della Consolazione Santa Maria della Consolazione is a Roman Catholic church in Rome, Italy at the foot of the Palatine Hill, in rione Campitelli. History The church is named after an icon of the Virgin Mary which was placed on this site to console criminals who w ...

. His best frescoes were a historical series in '' quadro riportato'' painted on the walls and ceiling of Villa Farnese at Caprarola, built for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, for which Zuccaro also designed a great quantity of rich decorations in stucco relief after the style of Giulio Romano and other pupils of Raphael. He also painted ''Histories of Alexander'' in the Castello Orsini at

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

. Nearly all his paintings were large, rapidly executed frescos, often in chiaroscuro or monochrome. Stylistically, he also displays a Mannerist taste for sculpted physicality characteristic of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

. Vasari 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 James II may refer to: * James II of Avesnes (died c. 1205), knight of the Fourth Crusade * James II of Majorca (died 1311), Lord of Montpellier * James II of Aragon (1267–1327), King of Sicily * James II, Count of La Marche (1370–1438), King C ...

, is now at

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

. The Caprarola frescoes were engraved and published by Prenner, ''Illustri Fatti Farnesiani Coloriti nel Real Palazzo di Caprarola'' (Rome, 1748–50). He painted ''Conversion of St. Paul'' in San Marcello al Corso in Rome. He died in Rome in 1566, and was buried in the Pantheon, not far from Raphael. Tomb of Taddeo and Federico Zuccaro

References

External links

The Zuccaro ScholarshipGetty 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