Scene from the Last Judgment, Study for the Fresco Decoration of One of the Segments of the Cupola of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence
Carefully executed by Federico Zuccaro in preparation of his frescoes for the monumental dome of the Florence Cathedral (1574-79), this drawing corresponds, with certain variations, to the third segment of the octagonal cupola to the right of the principal segment - where the Judging Christ is represented. Raffaello Borghini in his account ‘Il Riposo’ (Florence, 1584) extensively discussed the program for the frescoes on the dome, and praised Zuccaro for his "invenzione" (creativity and invention) of the scheme. The present drawing is strictly related to a very coherent group of sheets realized by Zuccaro in preparation of the dome’s decoration now held in Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna, Chicago, Florence and Darmstadt. Like the present sheet, several of these drawings have been cut down to the shape of the segment of the cupola. Zuccaro may have cut the drawings together to make a small tridimensional model of his project.
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Title:Scene from the Last Judgment, Study for the Fresco Decoration of One of the Segments of the Cupola of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence
Artist:Federico Zuccaro (Zuccari) (Italian, Sant'Angelo in Vado 1540/42–1609 Ancona)
Date:1576–79
Medium:Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over red chalk on ecru paper. The paper is cut to the shape of a segment of an octagonal cupola
Dimensions:maximum: 17-5/8 x 9-13/16 in. (44.8 x 24.9 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1961
Object Number:61.53
Inscription: The number 47 is inscribed on the upper center of the verso. Inscribed in graphite on the center of the reverse of the old mount, Le Jugement [sic] Dernier/Federico Zuccari [sic]/ né en 1530-1609.
Jacques Seligmann
Milwaukee Art Museum. "Renaissance into Baroque: Italian Master Drawings by the Zuccari, 1550-1600," November 17, 1989–January 14, 1990.
National Academy Museum. "Renaissance into Baroque: Italian Master Drawings by the Zuccari, 1550-1600," March 13, 1990–April 29, 1990.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," August 8–November 20, 2017.
Raffaello Borghini Il Riposo di Raffaello Borghini [rare book: Watson Library]. Book I, Florence, 1584, p. 77.
"Notable Works of Art Now on the Market." Burlington Magazine. vol. 102, June 1960, fig. no. 6, ill.
Master Drawings. Jacques Seligmann and Co., New York, 1960, no. 44.
Bacchiacca and his Friends, Florentine Paintings and Drawings of the Sixteenth Century. Exh. cat., Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, 1961, cat. no. 83.
L.C.J. Frerichs Italiaanse Tekeningen II, de 15de en 16de Eeuw. Exh. cat., Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Amsterdam, 1981, p. 93, under no. 382.
Jacob Bean, Lawrence Turčić 15th and 16th Century Italian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1982, cat. no. 277, fig. no. 277, pp. 274-75, ill.
John Gere, Philip Pouncey Italian Drawings in the Department of Prints and Drawings in The British Museum. Vol. 5: Artists Working in Rome, c. 1550 to c. 1640. with the ass. of Rosalind Wood, London, 1983, p. 196.
James Mundy, Elizabeth Ourusoff De Fernandez-Gimenez Renaissance into Baroque: Italian Master Drawings by the Zuccari, 1550 - 1600 Exh. cat., Milwaukee Art Museum (November 17, 1989 - January 14, 1990), and National Academy of Design, New York (March 13 - April 29, 1990). Milwaukee., 1989, pp. 212 - 13, no. 66, ill.
Mina Gregori "Federico Zuccari a Firenze: un punto di vista" Paragone. no. 575, 1998, pp. 15, 37, note 50, pl. 12.
Cristina Acidini Luchinat Taddeo e Federico Zuccari: Fratelli pittori del Cinquecento. 2 vols., Milan, Rome, 1999, Vol. 2, pp. 82, 85, 116, note 34, fig. 27.
Marco Chiarini, Cristina Giannini, Alan P. Darr, Ian Wardropper, Palazzo Strozzi, Art Institute of Chicago, Detroit Institute of Arts L'ombra del genio Michelangelo e l'arte a Firenze 1537–1631. Florence, 2002, pp. 342-43, no. 215 (entry by Susan Tipton).
Suzanne Boorsch, John Marciari Master Drawings from the Yale University Art Gallery. New Haven, 2006, p. 85, under no. 19 (entry by John Marciari).
Domenico Laurenza "Art and anatomy in Renaissance Italy : Images from a Scientific Revolution." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. Vol. 69, no. 3, New York, Winter 2012, pp. 36-37, figs. 50-51.
Ursula Verena Fischer Pace Roman Drawings before 1800. Italian Drawings in the Department of Prints and Drawings, Statens Museum for Kunst. Ed. by Chris Fischer, Copenhagen, 2014, p. 58, under no. 28.
Two scholars from the Department of Drawings and Prints highlight a selected group of architectural drawings currently on view in the Robert Wood Johnson, Jr. Gallery.
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