Blog Post #2: Drawing Analysis

                       Taddeo Sent on an Errand by Calabrese's Wife

Federico Zuccaro (Italian, about 1541 - 1609) | Not on display | The J. Paul Getty Museum

The drawing I’m going to describe today is “Taddeo Sent on an Errand by Calabrese's Wife” (1595) by Federico Zuccaro. The art work is just one of many episodes in this series which are set in the similar setting. This drawing is an excellent example of both scale and overlapping in art. In the foreground we see the boy, potentially artist, who is deep in thought. If we look closely into the drawing we notice that name Taddeo Zucharro appears on the boy’s shirt in the foreground and also on the second boy, who is walking down the stairs.
 On this platform in the foreground we also observe the woman, Calabrese’s wife. The first boy is overlapping the woman whose hand overlaps with the boy located in middleground.  In foreground Zuccardo used more hatching and shading while in the background we see just presence of contour line. In addition we can observe a little cross hatching in the middleground on the buildings. Many buildings are overlapping with each other but still we are able to distinguish their places. Another technique observed in this drawing is linear perspective. Zuccaro used linear perspective to determine proximity and space.
Also the drawing appears as smooth picture because there is not a big difference in shade of colors. Federico Zuccaro did not use dark colors to set up the story but more of contour lines that appear to be drawn with pen and brown ink. We also see presence of yellowish color because of his use of brush with brown wash. The pantheon is visible in the background which is happening to be the vanishing point of the art work. The setting and the fashion of people lead us to think of Renaissance Rome.