Cardinal Albornoz Gives the Farnese the Keys to Valentino

Taddeo Zuccaro

about 1565

Pen and brown ink, brush with brown wash, over black chalk; squared in red chalk, Pen, Ink, Brush

J. Paul Getty Museum

A group of figures in historical dress are gathered, with two central figures exchanging an object. The scene is rendered in brown ink with wash and is squared for transfer. A group of men in armor, wearing plumed helmets and carrying swords, faces civilians dressed in the robes of scholars, or men of the church. One soldier presents something in his outstretched hand to the foremost man on the right, who holds a book or documents in his left hand. Someone squared the drawing in red chalk to make it easier to transfer the scene to another surface. When Taddeo Zuccaro died in 1566, he was still working on the decorations for the room of Farnese history in the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. He made this drawing as a preparatory sketch for a small scene set above one of the windows in the room. Scholars know tha