of art, that he gave little thought to the other circumstances of his
life. He was a melancholy person, and very solitary; and he died at
about the age of fifty-seven. A request for his portrait was made to
those disciples of his, who had taken it in gesso, and when I was in
Rome last year they promised it to me; but, for all the messages and
letters that I have sent to them, they have refused to give it, thus
showing little affection for their dead master. However, I have been
unwilling to be hindered by that ingratitude on their part, seeing that
Daniello was my friend, and I have included the portrait given above,
which, although it is little like him, must serve as a proof of my
diligence and of the little care and lovingness of Michele degli
Alberti and Feliciano da San Vito.
TADDEO ZUCCHERO
LIFE OF TADDEO ZUCCHERO
PAINTER OF SANT'AGNOLO IN VADO
Francesco Maria being Duke of Urbino, there was born in the township of
Sant'Agnolo in Vado, a place in that State, on the 1st of September in
the year 1529, to the painter Ottaviano Zucchero, a male child to whom
he gave the name of Taddeo; which boy having learned by the age of ten
to read and write passing well, his father took him under his own
discipline and taught him something of design. But, perceiving that his
son had a very beautiful genius and was likely to become a better master
in painting than he believed himself to be, Ottaviano placed him with
Pompeo da Fano, who was very much his friend, but a commonplace painter.
Pompeo's works not pleasing Taddeo, and likewise his ways, he returned
to Sant'Agnolo, and there, as well as in other places, assisted his
father to the best of his power and knowledge. Finally, being well grown
in years and in judgment, and perceiving that he could not make much
progress under the discipline of his father, who was burdened with seven
sons and one daughter, and also that with his own little knowledge he
could not be of as much assistance to his father as he might wish, he
went off all alone, at the age of fourteen, to Rome. There, at first,
not being known by anyone, and himself knowing no one, he suffered some
hardships; and, if he did know one or two persons, he was treated worse
by them than by the others. Thus, having approached Francesco, called
Sant'Agnolo, who was working by the day at grotesques under Perino del
Vaga, he commended himself to him with all humility, praying him that,
being his kinsman, he should consent to help him; but no good came of
it, for Francesco, as certain kinds of kinsmen often do, not only did
not assist him by word or deed, but reproved and repelled him harshly.
But for all that, not losing heart and not being dismayed, the poor boy
contrived to maintain himself (or we should rather say, to starve
himself) for many months in Rome by grinding colours for a small price,
now in one shop and now in another, at times also drawing something, as
best he could. And although in the end he placed himself as an assistant
with one Giovan Piero Calavrese, he did not gain much profit from that,
for the reason that his master, together with his wife, a shrew of a
woman, not only made him grind colours all day and all night, but even,
among other things, kept him in want of bread, which, lest he should be
able to have enough or to take it at his pleasure, they used to keep in
a basket hung from the ceiling, with some little bells, which would ring
at the least touch of a hand on the basket, and thus give the alarm. But
this would have caused little annoyance to Taddeo, if only he had had
any opportunity of drawing some designs by the hand of Raffaello da
Urbino that his pig of a master possessed.
On account of these and many other strange ways Taddeo left Giovan
Piero, and resolved to live by himself and to have recourse to the
workshops of Rome, where he was by that time known, spending a part of
the week in doing work for a livelihood, and the rest in drawing,
particularly the works by the hand of Raffaello that were in the house
of Agostino Chigi and in other places in Rome. And since very often,
when the evening came on, he had no place wherein to sleep, many a night
he took refuge under the loggie of the above-named Chigi's house and in
other suchlike places; which hardships did something to ruin his
constitution, and, if his youth had not helped him, they would have
killed him altogether. As it was, falling ill, and not being assisted by
his kinsman Francesco Sant'Agnolo any more than he had been before, he
returned to his father's house at Sant'Agnolo, in order not to finish
his life in such misery as that in which he had been living.
However, not to waste any more time on matters that are not of the first
importance, now that I have shown at sufficient length with what
difficulties and hardships he made his proficience, let me relate that
Taddeo, at length restored to health and once more in Rome, resumed his
usual studies, but with more care of himself than he had taken in the
past, and learned so much under a certain Jacopone, that he came into
some credit. Wherefore the above-mentioned Francesco, his kinsman, who
had behaved so cruelly toward him, perceiving that he had become an able
master, and wishing to make use of him, became reconciled with him; and
they began to work together, Taddeo, who was of a kindly nature, having
forgotten all his wrongs. And so, Taddeo making the designs, and both
together executing many friezes in fresco in chambers and loggie, they
went on assisting one another.
Meanwhile the painter Daniello da Parma, who had formerly been many
years with Antonio da Correggio, and had associated with Francesco
Mazzuoli of Parma, having undertaken to paint a church in fresco for the
Office of Works of S. Maria at Vitto,[21] beyond Sora, on the borders of
the Abruzzi, called Taddeo to his assistance and took him to Vitto. In
which work, although Daniello was not the best painter in the world,
nevertheless, on account of his age, and from his having seen the
methods of Correggio and Parmigiano, and with what softness they
executed their paintings, he had such experience that, imparting it to
Taddeo and teaching him, he was of the greatest assistance to him with
his words; no less, indeed, than another might have been by working
before him. In that work, which was on a groined vaulting, Taddeo
painted the four Evangelists, two Sibyls, two Prophets, and four not
very large stories of Jesus Christ and of the Virgin His Mother.
[Footnote 21: Alvito.]
He then returned to Rome, where, M. Jacopo Mattei, a Roman gentleman,
discoursing with Francesco Sant'Agnolo of his desire to have the facade
of his house painted in chiaroscuro, Francesco proposed Taddeo to him;
but he appeared to that gentleman to be too young, wherefore Francesco
said to him that he should make trial of Taddeo in two scenes, which, if
they were not successful, could be thrown to the ground, and, if
successful, could be continued. Taddeo having then set his hand to the
work, the two first scenes proved to be such, that M. Jacopo was not
only satisfied with them, but astonished. In the year 1548, therefore,
when Taddeo had finished that work, he was vastly extolled by all Rome,
and that with good reason, because after Polidoro, Maturino, Vincenzio
da San Gimignano, and Baldassarre da Siena, no one had attained in works
of that kind to the standard that Taddeo had reached, who was then a
young man only eighteen years of age. The stories of the work may be
understood from these inscriptions, of the deeds of Furius Camillus, one
of which is below each scene.
The first, then, runs thus--
TUSCULANI, PACE CONSTANTI, VIM ROMANAM ARCENT.
The second--
M.F.C. SIGNIFERUM SECUM IN HOSTEM RAPIT.
The third--
M.F.C. AUCTORE, INCENSA URBS RESTITUITUR.
The fourth--
M.F.C. PACTIONIBUS TURBATIS PRAELIUM GALLIS NUNCIAT.
The fifth--
M.F.C. PRODITOREM VINCTUM FALERIO REDUCENDUM TRADIT.
The sixth--
MATRONALIS AURI COLLATIONE VOTUM APOLLINI SOLVITUR.
The seventh--
M.F.C. JUNONI REGINAE TEMPLUM IN AVENTINO DEDICAT.
The eighth--
SIGNUM JUNONIS REGINAE A VEIIS ROMAM TRANSFERTUR.
The ninth--
M.F.C. ... ANLIUS DICT. DECEM ... SOCIOS CAPIT.
From that time until the year 1550, when Julius III was elected Pope,
Taddeo occupied himself with works of no great importance, yet with
considerable profits. In which year of 1550, the year of the Jubilee,
Ottaviano, the father of Taddeo, with his mother and another of their
sons, went to Rome to take part in that most holy Jubilee, and partly,
also, to see their son. After they had been there some weeks with
Taddeo, on departing they left with him the boy that they had brought
with them, who was called Federigo, to the end that he might cause him
to study letters. But Taddeo judged him to be more fitted for painting,
as indeed Federigo has since been seen to be from the excellent result
that he has achieved; and so, after he had learned his first letters,
Taddeo began to make him give his attention to design, with better
fortune and support than he himself had enjoyed. Meanwhile Taddeo
painted in the Church of S. Ambrogio de' Milanesi, on the wall of the
high-altar, four stories of the life of that Saint, coloured in fresco
and not very large, with a frieze of little boys, and women after the
manner of terminal figures; which was a work of no little beauty. That
finished, he painted a facade full of stories of Alexander the Great,
beside S. Lucia della Tinta, near the Orso, beginning from his birth and
continuing with five stories of the most noteworthy actions of that
famous man; which work won him much praise, although it had to bear
comparison with another facade near it by the hand of Polidoro.
About that time Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino, having heard the fame of the
young man, who was his vassal, and desiring to give completion to the
walls of the chapel in the Duomo of Urbino, wherein Battista Franco, as
has been related, had painted the vaulting in fresco, caused Taddeo to
be summoned to Urbino. And he, leaving Federigo in Rome, under the care
of persons who might make him give his attention to his studies, and
likewise another of his brothers, whom he placed with some friends to
learn the goldsmith's art, went off to Urbino, where many attentions
were paid him by that Duke; and then orders were given to him as to all
that he was to design in the matter of the chapel and other works. But
in the meantime the Duke, as General to the Signori of Venice, had to
visit Verona and the other fortified places of that dominion, and he
took with him Taddeo, who copied for him the picture by the hand of
Raffaello da Urbino which, as has been related in another place, is in
the house of the noble Counts of Canossa. And he afterwards began, also
for his Excellency, a large canvas with the Conversion of S. Paul,
which, unfinished as he left it, is still in the possession of his
father Ottaviano at Sant'Agnolo.
Then, having returned to Urbino, he occupied himself for a time with
continuing the designs for the above-mentioned chapel, which were of the
life of Our Lady, as may be seen from some of them that are in the
possession of his brother Federigo, drawn in chiaroscuro with the pen.
But, whether it was that the Duke had not made up his mind or considered
Taddeo to be too young, or for some other reason, Taddeo remained with
him two years without doing anything but some pictures in a little study
at Pesaro, a large coat of arms in fresco on the facade of the Palace,
and a picture with a life-size portrait of the Duke, which were all
beautiful works. Finally the Duke, having to depart for Rome to receive
from Pope Julius III his baton as General of Holy Church, left
directions that Taddeo was to proceed with the above-named chapel, and
that he was to be provided with all that he required for that purpose.
But the Duke's ministers, keeping him, as such men generally do, in want
of everything, brought it about that Taddeo, after having lost two years
of his time, had to go off to Rome, where, having found the Duke, he
excused himself adroitly, without blaming anyone, and promised that he
would not fail to do the work when the time came.
In the year 1551, Stefano Veltroni, of Monte Sansovino--having received
orders from the Pope and from Vasari to have adorned with grotesques the
apartments of the villa on the hill without the Porta del Popolo, which
had belonged to Cardinal Poggio--summoned Taddeo, and caused him to
paint in the central picture a figure of Opportunity, who, having seized
Fortune by the locks, appears to be about to cut them with her shears
(the device of that Pope); in which Taddeo acquitted himself very well.
Then, Vasari having made before any of the others the designs for the
court and the fountain at the foot of the new Palace, which were
afterwards carried on by Vignuola and Ammanati and built by Baronino,
Prospero Fontana, in painting many pictures there, as will be related
hereafter, availed himself not a little of Taddeo in many things. And
these were the cause of even greater benefits for him, for the Pope,
liking his method of working, commissioned him to paint in some
apartments, above the corridor of the Belvedere, some little figures in
colour that served as friezes for those apartments; and in an open
loggia, behind those that faced towards Rome, he painted in chiaroscuro
on the wall, with figures as large as life, all the Labours of
Hercules, which were destroyed in the time of Pope Paul IV, when other
apartments and a chapel were built there. At the Vigna of Pope Julius,
in the first apartments of the Palace, he executed some scenes in
colour, and in particular one of Mount Parnassus, in the centre of the
ceilings, and in the court of the same he painted in chiaroscuro two
scenes of the history of the Sabines, which are one on either side of
the principal door of variegated marble that leads into the loggia,
whence one descends to the fountain of the Acqua Vergine; all which
works were much commended and extolled.
Now Federigo, while Taddeo was in Rome with the Duke, had returned to
Urbino, and he had lived there and at Pesaro ever since; but Taddeo,
after the works described above, caused him to return to Rome, in order
to make use of him in executing a great frieze in a hall, with others in
other rooms, of the house of the Giambeccari on the Piazza di S.
Apostolo, and in other friezes that he painted in the house of M.
Antonio Portatore at the Obelisk of S. Mauro, all full of figures and
other things, which were held to be very beautiful. Maestro Mattivolo,
the Master of the Post, bought in the time of Pope Julius a site on the
Campo Marzio, and built there a large and very commodious house, and
then commissioned Taddeo to paint the facade in chiaroscuro; which
Taddeo executed there three stories of Mercury, the Messenger of the
Gods, which were very beautiful, and the rest he caused to be painted by
others after designs by his own hand. Meanwhile M. Jacopo Mattei, having
caused a chapel to be built in the Church of the Consolazione below the
Campidoglio, allotted it to Taddeo to paint, knowing already how able he
was; and he willingly undertook to do it, and for a small price, in
order to show to certain persons, who went about saying that he could do
nothing save facades and other works in chiaroscuro, that he could also
paint in colour. Having then set his hand to that work, Taddeo would
only touch it when he was in the mood and vein to do well, spending the
rest of his time on works that did not weigh upon him so much in the
matter of honour; and so he executed it at his leisure in four years. On
the vaulting he painted in fresco four scenes of the Passion of Christ,
of no great size, with most beautiful fantasies, and all so well
executed in invention, design, and colouring, that he surpassed his own
self; which scenes are the Last Supper with the Apostles, the Washing of
Feet, the Prayer in the Garden, and Christ taken and kissed by Judas. On
one of the walls at the sides he painted in figures large as life Christ
Scourged at the Column, and on the other Pilate showing Him after the
scourging to the Jews, saying "Ecce Homo"; above this last, in an arch,
is the same Pilate washing his hands, and in the other arch, opposite to
that, Christ led before Annas. On the altar-wall he painted the same
Christ Crucified, and the Maries at the foot of the Cross, with Our Lady
in a swoon; on either side of her is a Prophet, and in the arch above
the ornament of stucco he painted two Sibyls; which four figures are
discoursing of the Passion of Christ. And on the vaulting, about certain
ornaments in stucco, are four half-length figures representing the Four
Evangelists, which are very beautiful. The whole work, which was
uncovered in the year 1556, when Taddeo was not more than twenty-six
years of age, was held, as it still is, to be extraordinary, and he was
judged by the craftsmen at that time to be an excellent painter.
That work finished, M. Mario Frangipane allotted to him his chapel in
the Church of S. Marcello, in which Taddeo made use, as he also did in
many other works, of the young strangers who are always to be found in
Rome, and who go about working by the day in order to learn and to gain
their bread; but none the less for the time being he did not finish it
completely. The same master painted in fresco in the Pope's Palace, in
the time of Paul IV, some rooms where Cardinal Caraffa lived, in the
great tower above the Guard of Halberdiers; and two little pictures in
oils of the Nativity of Christ and the Virgin flying with Joseph into
Egypt, which were sent to Portugal by the Ambassador of that Kingdom.
The Cardinal of Mantua, wishing to have painted with the greatest
possible rapidity the whole interior of his Palace beside the Arco di
Portogallo, allotted that work to Taddeo for a proper price; and Taddeo,
beginning it with the help of a good number of men, in a short time
carried it to completion, showing that he had very great judgment in
being able to employ so many different brains harmoniously in so great
a work, and in managing the various manners in such a way, that the
work appears as if all by the same hand. In short, Taddeo satisfied in
that undertaking, with great profit to himself, the Cardinal and all who
saw it, disappointing the expectations of those who could not believe
that he was likely to succeed amid the perplexities of such a great
work.
In like manner, he painted some scenes with figures in fresco for M.
Alessandro Mattei in some recesses in the apartments of his Palace near
the Botteghe Scure, and some others he caused to be executed by his
brother Federigo, to the end that he might become accustomed to the
work. Which Federigo, having taken courage, afterwards executed by
himself a Mount Parnassus in the recess of a ceiling in the house of a
Roman gentleman called Stefano Margani, below the steps of the Araceli.
Whereupon Taddeo, seeing Federigo confident and working by himself from
his own designs, without being assisted more than was reasonable by
anyone, contrived to have a chapel allotted to him by the men of S.
Maria dell'Orto a Ripa, making it almost appear that he intended to do
it himself, for the reason that it would never have been given to
Federigo alone, who was still a mere lad. Taddeo, then, in order to
satisfy these men, painted there the Nativity of Christ, and Federigo
afterwards executed all the rest, acquitting himself in such a manner
that there could be seen the beginning of that excellence which is now
made manifest in him.
In those same times the Duke of Guise, who was then in Rome, desiring to
take an able and practised painter to paint his Palace in France, Taddeo
was proposed to him; whereupon, having seen some of his works, and
liking his manner, he agreed to give him a salary of six hundred crowns
a year, on condition that Taddeo, after finishing the work that he had
in hand, should go to France to serve him. And so Taddeo would have
done, the money for his preparations having been deposited in a bank, if
it had not been for the wars that broke out in France at that time, and
shortly afterwards the death of that Duke. Taddeo then went back to
finish the work for Frangipane in S. Marcello, but he was not able to
work for long without being interrupted, for, the Emperor Charles V
having died, preparations were made for giving him most honourable
obsequies in Rome, fit for an Emperor of the Romans, and to Taddeo were
allotted many scenes from the life of that Emperor, and also many
trophies and other ornaments, which were made by him of pasteboard in a
very sumptuous and magnificent manner; and he finished the whole in
twenty-five days. For his labours, therefore, and those of Federigo and
others who had assisted him, six hundred crowns of gold were paid to
him.
Shortly afterwards he painted two great chambers at Bracciano for Signor
Paolo Giordano Orsini, which were very beautiful and richly adorned with
stucco-work and gold; in one the stories of Cupid and Psyche, and in the
second, which had been begun previously by others, some stories of
Alexander the Great; and others that remained for him to paint,
continuing the history of the same Alexander, he caused to be executed
by his brother Federigo, who acquitted himself very well. And then he
painted in fresco for M. Stefano del Bufalo, in his garden near the
fountain of Trevi, the Muses around the Castalian Fount and Mount
Parnassus, which was held to be a beautiful work.
The Wardens of Works of the Madonna of Orvieto, as has been related in
the Life of Simone Mosca, had caused some chapels with ornaments of
marble and stucco to be built in the aisles of their church, and had
also had some altar-pieces executed by Girolamo Mosciano of Brescia;
and, having heard the fame of Taddeo by means of friends, they sent a
summons to him, and he went to Orvieto, taking with him Federigo. There,
settling to work, he executed two great figures on the wall of one of
those chapels, one representing the Active Life, and the other the
Contemplative, which were despatched with a very sure facility of hand,
in the manner wherein he executed works to which he gave little study;
and while Taddeo was painting those figures, Federigo painted three
little stories of S. Paul in the recess of the same chapel. At the end
of which, both having fallen ill, they went away, promising to return in
September. Taddeo returned to Rome, and Federigo to Sant'Agnolo with a
slight fever; which having passed, at the end of two months he also
returned to Rome. There, Holy Week being close at hand, the two together
set to work in the Florentine Company of S. Agata, which is behind the
Banchi, and painted in four days on the vaulting and the recess of that
oratory, for a rich festival that was prepared for Holy Thursday and
Good Friday, scenes in chiaroscuro of the whole Passion of Christ, with
some Prophets and other pictures, which caused all who saw them to
marvel.