JACOPO ZUCCHI
57 The Age of Gold
Pen and brown ink, brown and ocher wash, and white
gouache heightening; H: 48 cm (i8^7 /s in.); W: 37.8 cm
(i4^7 /s in.)
84.00.22 (SEE PLATE 4)
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Recto) at top, on bande-
role, inscribed O Belli Anni Del Oro in brown ink by the
artist; at bottom center, collection mark of Sir Thomas
Lawrence (L. 2445); at bottom, illegible inscription in
brown ink; (verso) inscribed John Rottenhammer in
graphite.
PROVENANCE: Sir Thomas Lawrence, London;
Adolphe-Narcisse Thibaudeau, Paris (sale, Ch. Le
Blanc, Paris, April 20, 1857, lot 3°3); P-H. (Philipp
Huartf?]), Paris; sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, October 10,
1983, lot 31; art market, Geneva.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.THIS DRAWING IS A HIGHLY FINISHED MODELLO FOR
Zucchi's Age of Gold.^1 An iconographical program for a
painting of the Golden Age had been sent by Vincenzo
Borghini to Vasari in 1567 and became the inspiration for
the latter's drawing in the Louvre, Paris (inv. 2170), and
a painting by his assistant Francesco Morandini, II Poppi,
in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh. The ico-
nography of Zucchi's painting reflects Borghini's ideas
and Vasari's drawing, but contains many new elements
not derived from them.^2 The painting also appears to
have a political meaning, as T. Puttfarken has demon-
strated.^3
This drawing was preceded by a free compositional
sketch in the Art Museum, Princeton University (inv.
47-151).^4 In certain respects it was inspired by Vasari's
drawing,^5 especially in the dancing group in the back-
ground and in the inclusion of Apollo and other gods.^6
The Museum's modello incorporates many changes from
the Princeton drawing, opening the center front of the
composition, reducing the number of foreground fig-
ures, and clarifying the disposition of groups in the mid-
dle ground and background. Also added are a number of
picturesque details of nature and a grotto much in tune
with contemporary sculptural taste. The complex scene
is richly orchestrated with the liberal application of col-
ored wash and white heightening throughout. The com-
bination of classicism and naturalism gives the drawing
an almost Northern flavor, and, perhaps not accidentally,
the standing nude at the extreme right margin finds close
parallels in Northern drawings of the period.^7 The final
painted version shows further changes, but follows the
modello in essential matters.1. E. Pillsbury, "Drawings byjacopo Zucchi," Master Draw-
ings 12, no. i (Spring 1974), fig. 5.- T. Puttfarken, "Golden Age and Justice in Sixteenth-
Century Florentine Political Thought and Imagery: Observa-
tions on Three Pictures byjacopo Zucchi," Journal of the War-
burg and Courtauld Institutes 43 (1980), pp. 130-146. - Ibid.
- Pillsbury (note i), pi. 8.
- P. Barocchi, Vasaripittore (Milan, 1964), fig. 92.
- Pillsbury (note i), n. 43.
- For example, see the drawing by Spranger of Venus and
Cupid in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv.
1975.1.844; T. DaCosta Kaufmann, Drawings from the Holy Ro-
man Empire 1540-1680, exh. cat., Art Museum, Princeton Uni-
versity, 1982, no. 50).
136 ITALIAN SCHOOL • ZUCCHI