Two female figures, one standing and holding a dish and one seated

The rapid penwork, the application of the wash, and the typology of the figures in this sheet closely resemble a group of drawings from Taddeo’s early development when, upon his arrival in Rome, the artist was deeply influenced by the art of Polidoro da Caravaggio (see J. Katalan, ‘A Taddeo Zuccaro Drawing in the British Museum’, Master Drawings, XXXII, no. 1, Winter 1994, pp. 60-62). The present sheet is particularly close, for example, to a double-sided drawing published by Gere (fig.1; whereabouts unknown; see J. A. Gere, ‘Taddeo Zuccaro. Addenda and Corrigenda’, Master Drawings, XXXIII, no. 3, Autumn 1995, no. 264A, ill.) that depicts pairs of figures similar to those drawn here. At the beginning of his artistic career Taddeo often drew copies of the grisaille fresco decoration on palace façades created by Polidoro. It is possible, therefore, that the two figures in this sheet were also inspired by one of Polidoro’s now lost decorations.

Fig. 1. Taddeo Zuccaro, Woman holding a mirror (?) up to a nude man. Present whereabouts unknown.