Studio of Taddeo Zuccaro, Italian 1529-1566- Seated woman holding a staff; pen and brown ink and brown wash heightened with white, with traces of red chalk on cream laid paper, bears inscription and date 'Tadeus Zuccarus 1559' (lower right), bears...

Studio of Taddeo Zuccaro,

Italian 1529-1566-

Seated woman holding a staff;

pen and brown ink and brown wash heightened with white, with traces of red chalk on cream laid paper, bears inscription and date 'Tadeus Zuccarus 1559' (lower right), bears further inscriptions on the reverse, 37 x 27.5 cm.

Verso Inscriptions: ‘N.O 6.gl.’ (in sanguine upper left corner); ‘39/91’ (in ink left edge); ‘Taddeo Zücchero.’ (in ink lower left); ‘N3077’ (in red ink lower left corner).

Provenance: Probably Valerius Röver, Delft, 1686-1739, Lugt 2984b; Probably Everhard Jabach, Paris, 1618-1695, (Lugt 3788); Probably Johann Goll van Franckenstein, Amsterdam, 1722-1795 (Lugt 2987); With P & D Colnaghi & Co. Ltd., London; Gifted to the present owner in 1952.

Note: The figure in the present work appears over the right-hand northwest facing window in the Sala dei Fasti Farnesiani of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. The frescoes for the palace were begun in the 1550s by Francesco Salviati, who executed the two long walls of the Sala dei Fasti Farnesiani before he died in 1563. Zuccaro was asked to complete the remaining two short walls of the chamber. However, upon his own sudden death in September 1566 the work remained unfinished, and was finally completed by his younger brother Federico.

The present drawing is one of at least eight sheets by Zuccaro and his assistants related to the figure, thought by some to represent Valor. One of these resides in the British Museum (inv.5211-54), which the present work most closely resembles. The British Museum drawing is squared for transfer, thus suggesting its sequential role in the final execution of the fresco. Our work is likely to have been executed as a useful ‘ricordo’ or document of the British Museum drawing as it moved through the vicissitudes of the design and production phases.

Partially due to the uncertainty around exactly which parts of the two short walls in the chamber were executed by which brother, it is difficult to definitively determine whether Zuccaro put his hand to this drawing. At the time in 1564 when Taddeo began work in the Sala dei Fasti Farnesiani, Federico was in Venice, only returning to Rome in January 1566. The present work does not immediately suggest Taddeo’s work in its construction of flatter planes and smoother forms, but it does, through its corporeality, suggest sculpture, which the two allegories are meant to simulate. Thus, the present drawing, while presumably not by the hand of Taddeo, was likely executed under his strict supervision between 1564 and 1566 or, possibly even under that of Federico when he came on board later in 1566. The dates of Taddeo’s activity on this project preclude the possibility that the inscription 'Tadeus Zuccarus' and date '1559' represent a signature. Taddeo did not sign his drawings and the date is, clearly, premature. The inscription is that of an early owner.

There is strong suggestion from the written inscriptions that this drawing was in the distinguished collections of Valerius Röver (Delft, 1686-1739), (Lugt 2984b); the Parisian banker Everhard Jabach (Lugt 3788); and Johann Goll van Franckenstein (Lugt 2897).

We are grateful to James Mundy for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot. A full and detailed expert opinion supporting these notes is available on request.