Lot Essay
This is probably the original of an early drawing by Taddeo of which two copies are known: one in the British Museum, from Padre Resta's collection (J. A. Gere and P. Pouncey, Italian Drawings in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, Artists working in Rome c. 1550 to c. 1640, London, 1983, no. 342, pl. 330 as 'After Taddeo Zuccaro') and another that sold in these Rooms, 7 July 1981, lot 37, as 'Boscoli.'
The British Museum drawing is laid down on a Resta mount which bears his lengthy inscriptions: Resta first thought the drawing was by Daniele Pori da Parma: 'DANIELE DE POR di PARMA, SCOLARO DEL CORREGGIO e MASTRO di TAD°. ZUCC°.' Resta mentioned that the attribution was based on a picture in the Marchese del Carpio's collection in Naples that 'essendo di stile trà Taddeo, e Correggio, si fece di Daniele', though the attribution of the drawing to Porri must have come from a previous collector. In an afterthought Resta wrote on a tablet on the mount that, according to him, the drawing was by Taddeo: 'Dopo mille considerationi ondeggianti lo concludo per di Taddeo secondo me'.
The drawing sold at Christie's in 1981 was described by John Gere and Philip Pouncey in 1983 as of 'specifically Zuccaresque flavour which seems to be a copy of a lost drawing by Taddeo'. The 'Zuccaresque flavour' of the composition is confirmed by a print of a Deposition from the Cross after Taddeo by Cornelis Cort, Hollstein, V, 89. In the background of the print, is the same motif of the three crosses and the features of some of the figures are similar to those in the present drawing. Other details of the drawing, such as the palm-like hand of the Virgin, or the curls of hair, are comparable with those in Taddeo's drawings illustrated in John Gere's Addenda and Corrigenda to Taddeo Zuccarro's catalogue of drawings, Master Drawings, 1995, XXXIII, no. 264-F and 59-A, figs 92 and 21.
Stefano Porri was, according to Vasari, an assistant of Parmigianino and Corregio. He was Taddeo's first master who sympathised with him on his arrival in Rome, when his other masters either refused to help or feed him and even prevented him from copying Raphael's drawings. The hardships which Taddeo endured were documented in a series of drawings, drawn by his brother and formerly in the Rosenbach foundation. Vasari recorded that Taddeo's earliest work was a series of frescoes executed under Porri's supervision in the church of San Maria in Alvito, in the Abruzzi. The Resta attribution of the British Museum must stem from an early provenance inscribed on the drawing.
The British Museum drawing is laid down on a Resta mount which bears his lengthy inscriptions: Resta first thought the drawing was by Daniele Pori da Parma: 'DANIELE DE POR di PARMA, SCOLARO DEL CORREGGIO e MASTRO di TAD°. ZUCC°.' Resta mentioned that the attribution was based on a picture in the Marchese del Carpio's collection in Naples that 'essendo di stile trà Taddeo, e Correggio, si fece di Daniele', though the attribution of the drawing to Porri must have come from a previous collector. In an afterthought Resta wrote on a tablet on the mount that, according to him, the drawing was by Taddeo: 'Dopo mille considerationi ondeggianti lo concludo per di Taddeo secondo me'.
The drawing sold at Christie's in 1981 was described by John Gere and Philip Pouncey in 1983 as of 'specifically Zuccaresque flavour which seems to be a copy of a lost drawing by Taddeo'. The 'Zuccaresque flavour' of the composition is confirmed by a print of a Deposition from the Cross after Taddeo by Cornelis Cort, Hollstein, V, 89. In the background of the print, is the same motif of the three crosses and the features of some of the figures are similar to those in the present drawing. Other details of the drawing, such as the palm-like hand of the Virgin, or the curls of hair, are comparable with those in Taddeo's drawings illustrated in John Gere's Addenda and Corrigenda to Taddeo Zuccarro's catalogue of drawings, Master Drawings, 1995, XXXIII, no. 264-F and 59-A, figs 92 and 21.
Stefano Porri was, according to Vasari, an assistant of Parmigianino and Corregio. He was Taddeo's first master who sympathised with him on his arrival in Rome, when his other masters either refused to help or feed him and even prevented him from copying Raphael's drawings. The hardships which Taddeo endured were documented in a series of drawings, drawn by his brother and formerly in the Rosenbach foundation. Vasari recorded that Taddeo's earliest work was a series of frescoes executed under Porri's supervision in the church of San Maria in Alvito, in the Abruzzi. The Resta attribution of the British Museum must stem from an early provenance inscribed on the drawing.