Jacopo Zucchi
Design for the Catafalque of Grand Duke Cosimo I, 1574
Inscribed at upper center, flanking the sarcophagus, in pen and brown ink, Jacom Zucchi; in the cartouche below, in pen and brown ink, MAG COSMUS / ETRURIE; plan at upper right, in pen and brown ink, liberalita / Carita / pruden[zia] / iustizia; plan beneath this, in pen and brown ink, cavalieri / creatione / trionfo / coronatione; lowest plan, in pen and brown ink, Pisa / carara / Siena / fiorenza.
Purchased as the gift of the Fellows, 1965
Following the death of Duke Cosimo I de' Medici in 1574, catafalques in his memory were erected throughout Italy. Zucchi likely designed this one for the church of the Florentines in Rome, San Giovanni dei Fiorentini. It depicts a three-story monument surmounted by a bust of the deceased and a sarcophagus. On the left is an alternate design for the elevation, while the three sketches on the right are plans for each story. Inscriptions identify details to be represented on the structure, including events from Cosimo's life and allegories of his virtues.