which, without the assistance of his brother, he has produced at Rome,
though the larger altar-piece of S. Lorenzo in Damaso, and that of the
Angioli at Gesù, with some others dispersed in other churches, may claim
their share of merit. He built a house on Monte Pincio, rapidly and with
the assistance of his scholars furnished with family portraits,
conversations, and other whims in fresco, and left to prove him a
trifler in Art, and the leader of decay.
Invited by Philip II. he went to Madrid, but failed to please; his place
was supplied by Tibaldi, and he sent back with a good pension to Italy.
Towards the end of his life he made another journey, scouring the
principal towns of Italy, and leaving his works wherever he could place
them: of these the Assumption of the Madonna in an oratorio at Rimini on
which he wrote his name, and her Death at Sta. Maria in Acumine of the
same place, with figures more than usually studied, deserve notice. His
Presepio in the Duomo of Foligno, has simplicity and grace; nor less
have the two stories relative to the Madonna, painted for the Duke of
Urbino in a chapel at Loretto. The Miracle of the Snow, in the library
of the Cistercians at Milano, is a multitudinous composition filled with
portraits as usual, variously coloured and well preserved. The Borromean
College at Pavia, has a saloon painted in fresco from incidents in the
life of S. Carlo: the most approved of these is the Saint praying in his
recess: nor might the other two, that of the consistory in which he
received the Cardinal's hat, and the Pest of Milano, want commendation
had they overflowed less in figures. At Torino he painted for the
Jesuits a St. Paul; began to ornament a gallery for the Duke, Charles
Emanuel; published his _Idea de' Pittori Scultori ed Architetti_, and
dedicated it to the Duke. This was followed, at his return to Lombardy,
by two other treatises; "_La dimora di Parma del Sig. Cav. Federico
Zuccaro_; and _Il passaggio per Italia, colla dimora di Parma del Sig.
Cav. Federigo Zuccari_," both printed at Bologna 1608. Next year, on his
return to Rome, he fell sick at Ancona, and there died. His talents,
which extended to sculpture and architecture, were inferior to his
fortune, which preceded that of all his contemporaries, and was in a
great measure the effect of personal qualities; lordly aspect and
demeanour, some literary culture, persuasive manners, and a liberality
that absorbed the wealth which his hand had accumulated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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