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Taddeo Zuccaro (Sant
Foundation of Orbetello
Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black chalk; incised for transfer; squared in black chalk
Inscribed at left, on altar, in pen and brown ink, by the artist, COL[ONIA] / VRBE / TELL[I].
10 3/8 x 15 5/16 inches (264 x 391 mm)
Gift of Janos Scholz, 1973; 1973.28
Photography by Graham Haber, 2009
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In early 1564 Taddeo received the prestigious commission from Cardinal Ranuccio Farnese, brother of Cardinal Alessandro, for frescoes in the Palazzo Farnese, Rome's most important sixteenth-century palace and the present site of the French embassy. He was to complete a fresco cycle in the Sala dei Fasti Farnesiani left unfinished at the death of Francesco Salviati in 1563. This drawing is a study for the scene representing the (fictitious) founding of the town of Orbetello in 1100 by Pietro Farnese, captain of the papal cavalry. Orbetello, built on a sandspit on the flat coast of Tuscany and enclosed by two lagoons, appears in the background at upper left.

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