Studies for a Circular Composition of Diana and Her Nymphs Bathing (recto); Studies for the Same Composition (verso)

Taddeo Zuccaro

1529–66 · Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash · Drawings and Prints

This graceful composition exhibits Taddeo's characteristically fluid line, which renders the forms at once animated, convincingly three-dimensional, and elegantly ornamental. Given the circular format of the designs on both sides of the sheet, it is likely that the drawings are preliminary sketches for a design to be painted on a majolica dish. It has been suggested that the design was part of a projected series of majolica illustrating the activities of Diana, goddess of the hunt, and would have preceded Taddeo's well-known commission to design a set of majolica for the king of Spain in 1562. The drawing entered the collection in 1956 as an anonymous Italian work of the sixteenth century and Jacob Bean recognized it as the work of Taddeo Zuccaro in 1964. John A. Gere has further pointed out that a second drawing in the Met collection depicting six bathing nymphs (acc. no. 1970.101.20) is a study for part of the same project. Taddeo's final design for this circular composition is recorded in a drawing in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. 9030).

Artist

Taddeo Zuccaro

Date

1529–66

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Walter Lowry, 1956