"To Rebehold The Stars", An Online Exhibition Of The Drawings of Frederico Zuccari
Originally shared: Saturday 6 February 2021
This year, [2021], marks the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death in 1321, one year after the Divine Comedy was completed. After his death, Dante was buried within the grounds of the Basilica of San Francesco in central Ravenna [link]. In recognition of this anniversary the Uffizi Gallery, Florence (the city of Dante''s birth, circa 1265) is displaying a virtual collection of rarely exhibited fragile drawings by the 16th-century Renaissance artist, art critic and historian Frederico Zuccari.
“Until now these beautiful drawings have only been seen by a few scholars and displayed to the public only twice, and only in part,” ... “Now they are published in full, alongside a didactic-scientific comment, where from [1st January 2021] they will be freely available.” - Eike Schmidt, the director of the Uffizi.
The online show can be seen at this following link - 'To Rebehold the Stars'.
My main interest is the depictions of Hell [link] unsurprisingly, however, it's really worth taking the time to see the exquisite depictions of Purgatory [link] and Paradise [link] too.
Frederico Zucarri's Illustration of Canto I from Dante's ‘Inferno', circa 1588.
'The Dark Forest' (Photo: Helvio ricina, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Frederico Zucarri's Illustration of Canti XXXI-XXXII from Dante's ‘Inferno', circa 1588.
'The Ninth Circle - The Giants'(Photo: Helvio ricina, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Federico Zuccari [link] was born near Urbino at Sant'Angelo in Vado some time around 1540 to 1541. His career as a painter started at the age of 10 when he moved to Rome to become an assistant to his brother Taddeo [link]. He developed early in his career a talent for fresco painting which saw him move frequently between commissions in Venice, Rome and Florence.
Left: Federico Zuccari's 'Self-Portrait', late 16th century.
(Photo: Google Arts and Culture via Wikimedia Commons. Held at the Uffizi gallery Florence)
Right: Fede Galizias 'Portrait of Federico Zuccari', 1604.
(Photo: Web Gallery of Art via Wikimedia Commons.
Held at the Musei Capitolini, Rome)
Between 1574 to 1579 Zuccari finished the Last Judgement frescoes within the dome of Florence's Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore which had been started but left incomplete by Giorgio Vasari before him. The lower elements depicting Hell are informed by the work of Dante and can be seen as a precursor to Zuccari's later illustrations for the Divine Comedy.
The Hellish details of Frederico Zucarri's fresco that in full depict the Last Judgement, circa 1574 to 1579.
Inside the dome of Florence's Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Photo:, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
During this time Zuccari was widely travelled, England being one destination where he began this preliminary chalk sketch of Queen Elizabeth I below.
Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I; whole-length, standing to front, holding a fan, her hands crossed at her waist, a spaniel on a pedestal at right, 1575. (Photo:, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)
In 1585 Zuccari accepted a commission by King Philip II of Spain to decorate the new El Escorial built near Madrid in the town of San Lorenzo. This was also in response to a temporary exile from Rome due to a badly received commision by Pope Gregory XIII. Unfortunately, the new commission once completed was also not well received and in time was partially painted over. "We must not blame him, but those who sent him to us", said Philip amicably. Interestingly at the same time as this failed commission, Zuccari undertook the Divine Comedy drawings now being presented by the Uffizi.
In 1593, the temporary exile having ended, Zuccaro became the first president of the Academy of St. Luke in Rome, a precursor to modern art academies and institutions.
After Zuccari’s death in 1609, the drawings were held by the noble Orsini family, for whom the artist had worked, and later by the Medici family before becoming part of the Uffizi collection in 1738.
Owing to their fragility, only a selection of the pencil-and-ink drawings have been exhibited publicly. The first time was in Florence at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in 1865 to mark the 600th anniversary of Dante’s birth and Italian unification. The second, in 1993, was for an exhibition within Castello Gizzi, a fortified palace in Torre de' Passeri, Province of Pescara (Abruzzo) that had been Dante's home.
Frederico Zucarri's Illustration of Canto III from Dante's ‘Inferno', circa 1588.
'The Gate of Hell - The Sluggish' (Photo: Helvio ricina, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Getting to the gritty - the materials used -
The medium appears to be red ochre chalk and graphite on vellum. The show's sidenotes describe the height of each sheet as 440 mm with a width of 590 mm.
An aside - The graphite pencil was invented after a huge graphite mine was discovered in England at Borrowdale, Cumbria around or before 1564 [link]. At the time graphite was known as 'black lead' (plumbago) due to its slight metallic-like dark sheen and apparant softness before it was later recognised as an allotrope of carbon. This may be where the term 'lead' used for lead pencils comes from. The recognition graphite was not the same as lead came in 1778 by Carl Wilhelm Scheele [link]. "A.L. Lavoisier proposed carbon in 1789 from the Latin carbo meaning "charcoal." A.G. Werner and D.L.G. Harsten proposed graphite from the Greek grafo meaning "to write," referring to pencils, which were introduced in 1594" [course notes from Michael Castellani - link]. Originally, graphite sticks were wrapped in string or sheepskin for stability. Before the mid-1500s, a drawing stylus made from a thin rod of lead would have been used [link].
When ink is used in Zuccari's drawings (as in the drawing of Lucifer below) it appears to be the brownish -black of oak gall ink.
[See how black oak gall ink can be made at this YouTube link] [Also, this YouTube link]
Frederico Zucarri's Illustration of Canto IV from Dante's ‘Inferno', circa 15 .
'The First Circle - the Noble Castle' (Photo: Roberto Palermo, Uffizi Gallery)
The Inferno drawings are mostly created using red ochre with graphite. The graphite underlines the base, dirty and smokey quality of the scenes portrayed (is there a symbolic relationship with the graphite medium itself in that it was discovered and extracted from a subterranean pit?).
One scene in the Inferno sequence [link] stands apart as it is entirely drawn in red ochre. Depicting the garden within the walls of the Noble Castle the subtle use of red ochre creates a luminous quality that somehow points out the extreme grubby darkness of the other illustrations that surround it and points to the visions that we will later see in Paradise
In the Purgatory works ink drawing is the predominant method contrasting strong shadows with the pale page. The inked lines are quite finely handled with little modelling of form. Shadows where defined are quite stark as if the forms have been lit by the side-light of a setting sun. Red ochre drawings do appear in the final few images creating a luminosity suggestive of the views of Paradise still yet to come. The use of graphite remains absent throughout this sequence. [link]
In Paradise the luminous renderings use both ink and red ochre. Graphite does appear though used sparingly to help accentuate the intensely bright holy visions. [link]
Frederico Zucarri's Illustration of Canti XXVI-XXVIII from Dante's ‘Inferno', circa 1588.
Eighth circle, eighth bedlam: the fraudulant advisors.Ulysses and Diomedes.
Ninth bedlam: The sowers of discord
(Photo: Helvio ricina, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Frederico Zucarri's Illustration of Canti XXXII-XXXIV from Dante's ‘Inferno', circa 1588.
'The Ninth Circle - Lucifer' (Photo: Helvio ricina, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
During 2021 the Uffizi is spearheading a number of commemorative initiatives such as an exhibition dedicated to Dante in the northern Italian town of Forlì where the poet fled to in 1302. The Uffizi Gallery and the Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì Foundation are co-organising the hugely ambitious exhibition Dante. The vision of art which is due to be held in the San Domenico Museums complex (12 March-4 July; subject to Covid-19 restrictions).
The Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
Online show -"To Rebehold The Stars" [Link to the Uffizi Gallery online show in English]
[For a fuller version visit the Italian language site using 'Google translate']
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h/t: [The Guardian], [MyModenmet], [OpenCulture], [The Art Newspaper] & [Smithsonian Magazine]
Related Content
"Illustrations for Dante's Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro", in the Journal of Cultural and Religious Studies, 2016
[Study .pdf] [study reference page on SemanticScholar.org]
