Federico Zuccaro

Richard George Mathews, London (L.2213);
Wilton Collection (from a pen and ink inscription on a label on the backing)

Hinged at the top on a modern mount. On the right hand side falling on drapery on the stool of the madonna, there is a small beige stain. Slightly oxidised white. Overall in good condition.
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This very interesting study could be related to the Adoration of the Magi, part of Federico's decoration of the Grimani Chapel in San Francesco della Vigna, Venice.  Federico arrived in Venice to work in Grimani's private palace in 1563.  Later he took over the decoration of the family chapel, which had been begun by Battista Franco but left unfinished at his death in 1561.  The Adoration of the Magi, signed and dated 1564 and painted in oil on marble, is on the altar of the chapel.¹   A small version of the same composition, in oil on canvas, is in the Pinacoteca dei Gerolamini, Naples.²   The composition was also engraved by Cort for his series of prints, circa 1568, on the Life of Christ, after various artists.³

1.  C. Acidini Luchinat, Taddeo e Federico Zuccari, Rome 1998, reproduced  p. 233
2.  Ibid., p. 236, fig. 20
3.  Ibid., p. 235, fig. 19