Scene from the Last Judgment, Study for the Fresco Decoration of One of the Segments of the Cupola of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence

Scene from the Last Judgment, Study for the Fresco Decoration of One of the Segments of the Cupola of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence

Federico Zuccaro (Zuccari)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Carefully executed by Federico Zuccaro in preparation of his frescoes for the monumental dome of the Florence Cathedral (1574-79), this drawing corresponds, with certain variations, to the third segment of the octagonal cupola to the right of the principal segment - where the Judging Christ is represented. Raffaello Borghini in his account ‘Il Riposo’ (Florence, 1584) extensively discussed the program for the frescoes on the dome, and praised Zuccaro for his "invenzione" (creativity and invention) of the scheme. The present drawing is strictly related to a very coherent group of sheets realized by Zuccaro in preparation of the dome’s decoration now held in Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna, Chicago, Florence and Darmstadt. Like the present sheet, several of these drawings have been cut down to the shape of the segment of the cupola. Zuccaro may have cut the drawings together to make a small tridimensional model of his project.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Scene from the Last Judgment, Study for the Fresco Decoration of One of the Segments of the Cupola of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in FlorenceScene from the Last Judgment, Study for the Fresco Decoration of One of the Segments of the Cupola of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in FlorenceScene from the Last Judgment, Study for the Fresco Decoration of One of the Segments of the Cupola of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in FlorenceScene from the Last Judgment, Study for the Fresco Decoration of One of the Segments of the Cupola of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in FlorenceScene from the Last Judgment, Study for the Fresco Decoration of One of the Segments of the Cupola of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.