Lot 15: TADDEO ZUCCARO

(Sant'Angelo in Vado 1529-1566 Rome)
The Adoration of the Shepherds.

Pen and brown ink and wash with white heightening on 2 sheets of cream laid paper mounted on card stock. Approximately 470x800 mm; 18 1/2x31 1/2 inches (overall).

The current work likely relates to a series of at least 10 drawings of the same subject, 2 of which are in Chatsworth and the Uffizi that most closely recall the current work (see Gere, Taddeo Zuccaro, His Development Studied in his Drawings, Chicago, 1969, pp. 68-69, catalogue numbers 19 and 76 respectively). Gere mentions another drawing in the Uffizi which is too damaged to illustrate but, based on his stylistic and compositional analysis, appears similar to the current work as well. In all 3 drawings, plus the current work, one can see the repeated motif of a figure seated on an ox adoring the infant Christ, the reliance of Zuccaro on Parmigianino's figural style and the artist's loose pen and wash technique bordered by bold, clearly drawn contour lines. In the current work, the figure on the ox is in the background directly behind the reclining infant Chirst.

Philip Pouncey reattributed the Uffizi drawing (13409 F), which was formerly thought to be by Polidoro da Caravaggio, and dated it to circa 1548-50 (see Gere, Taddeo Zuccari nel Gabinetto delle Satmpe e dei Disegni della Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 1992, p. 32, catalogue number 3).