Federico Zuccaro

Said to be from the so-called 'Sagredo Borghese' album
therfore provenace possibly as follows: Nicoló Sagredo, Venice by circa 1651; his brothe Stefano Sagredo, Venice;
his nephew Zaccaria Sagredo, Venice;
his wife Cecilia Sagredo, until sold in circa 1743;
private collection in Lyon;
dispersed at auction in Lyon circa 1919

This study is a fragment from the right of a design for a stage hanging, a composition known from the life-size modello, now in the Uffizi.¹  The stage hanging, representing a scene of falconry with the combat of a hawk and a heron, was executed by Federico for the festivities in 1565 on occasion of the marriage of Francesco de' Medici and Joanna of Austria, in Florence.  The play was performed in the Sala dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio, on 26 December 1565.  The modello is signed by Federico and dated 1565.  Other studies related to this project have survived, for instance in the British Museum (inv.no.Pp. 3-196) and in the Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth.²

1. See John Gere, Mostra di Disegni degli Zuccari, exhibition catalogue, Florence, Uffizi, 1966, pp. 36-7, no. 48, reproduced fig. 33

2.Michael Jaffé, The Devonshire Collection of Italian Drawings, Roman and Neapolitan School, London 1994, p. 243, no. 393, reproduced