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.
Taddeo Zuccaro (1529-1566), Foundation of Orbetello
, Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black chalk; incised for transfer; squared in black chalk, Gift of Janos Scholz, 1973
, 1973.28