United States or Dominican Republic ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !


He then returned to Rome, where, M. Jacopo Mattei, a Roman gentleman, discoursing with Francesco Sant'Agnolo of his desire to have the façade of his house painted in chiaroscuro, Francesco proposed Taddeo to him; but he appeared to that gentleman to be too young, wherefore Francesco said to him that he should make trial of Taddeo in two scenes, which, if they were not successful, could be thrown to the ground, and, if successful, could be continued.

And he afterwards began, also for his Excellency, a large canvas with the Conversion of S. Paul, which, unfinished as he left it, is still in the possession of his father Ottaviano at Sant'Agnolo.

As it was, falling ill, and not being assisted by his kinsman Francesco Sant'Agnolo any more than he had been before, he returned to his father's house at Sant'Agnolo, in order not to finish his life in such misery as that in which he had been living.

Francesco Maria being Duke of Urbino, there was born in the township of Sant'Agnolo in Vado, a place in that State, on the 1st of September in the year 1529, to the painter Ottaviano Zucchero, a male child to whom he gave the name of Taddeo; which boy having learned by the age of ten to read and write passing well, his father took him under his own discipline and taught him something of design.

At the end of which, both having fallen ill, they went away, promising to return in September. Taddeo returned to Rome, and Federigo to Sant'Agnolo with a slight fever; which having passed, at the end of two months he also returned to Rome.

On the first, in a scene on the right hand as one enters, is Pope Julius III confirming Duke Ottavio and the Prince his son in the possession of Parma and Piacenza, in the presence of Cardinal Farnese, Sant'Agnolo his brother, the Camarlingo Santa Fiore, the elder Salviati, Chieti, Carpi, Polo, and Morone, all being portraits from life; with this inscription: JULIUS III, P.M., ALEXANDRO FARNESIO AUCTORE, OCTAVIO FARNESIO, EJUS FRATRI, PARMAM AMISSAM RESTITUIT, ANNO SALUTIS 1550.

Pompeo's works not pleasing Taddeo, and likewise his ways, he returned to Sant'Agnolo, and there, as well as in other places, assisted his father to the best of his power and knowledge.

Thus, having approached Francesco, called Sant'Agnolo, who was working by the day at grotesques under Perino del Vaga, he commended himself to him with all humility, praying him that, being his kinsman, he should consent to help him; but no good came of it, for Francesco, as certain kinds of kinsmen often do, not only did not assist him by word or deed, but reproved and repelled him harshly.

It is true, indeed, that the work received its final completion, not from him, but from Taddeo Zucchero of Sant'Agnolo, as will be related in the proper place. He gave completion and proportion to the Chapel of the Popolo, which Fra Sebastiano Viniziano had formerly begun for Agostino Chigi, but had not finished; and Francesco finished it, as has been described in the Life of Fra Sebastiano.

But, for the sake of harmony with the other figures, I would make him standing, supported in some way, or rather, seated, like that of the most illustrious Cardinal Sant'Agnolo, which is likewise winged and holds a horn of plenty. He shall have about him persons offering to him, as was the custom, first-fruits of lentils and other vegetables, and also of peaches, as mentioned above.