[Federico Zuccaro] 297 Adoration of the shepherds Pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white, on light tan paper, the recto tinted yellow. Framing line (partly trimmed) in pencil. Slight creases; wormhole, top centre. 393 x 249 mm. Inscribed, top left: 4 (pencil). WATERMARK: Star in diamond in circle (Zonghi, no. 1732: 1574; Briquet, no. 6097: 1566/67 Lucca, 1567/71 Rome). CHAIN LINES: 33-35 mm (v). PROVENANCE: Odescalchi; acquired in 1790 (L. 2392). Inv. 1854: D 42 (Parmegiano [sic], `de heilige familie, door Engelen en herders vereerd'); inv. 1864: C 59 (Parmigianino). INV. NO.: B 96. J.A. Gere (note on the mount) recognised Federico Zuccaro's hand in this colourful drawing that was formerly ascribed to Parmigianino. In view of the arch that the artist sketched at the top, it may be a design for an altarpiece. Moreover, the protrusion of the shepherd's left foot at bottom right suggests the artist was operating within set limits. The composition incorporates motifs from an Adoration credited to Taddeo Zuccaro that was engraved in 1567 by Cornelis Cort (Bierens de Haan, 1948, no. 33, pl. 8; the illustrated print is a reversed copy of Cort's; cf. Gere, 1969, p. 152, under no. 70).[1] Federico simplified Taddeo's invention by reducing the number of figures and retaining only one of the three apertures into the distance. The two shepherds kneeling in the right foreground of No. 297 recur in a more carefully drawn Adoration by Federico in the Albertina, which otherwise presents a totally different composition (inv. 611; Birke and Kertész, I, p. 332). Federico was given to quoting his own inventions, as Mundy noted (exh. Milwaukee-New York, 1989-1990, p. 175, under no. 52). The drawing can be dated to the late 1560s. NOTE [1] A drawing by Federico containing detailed preliminary studies for two figures that occur in Cort's engraved Adoration serves to cast doubt on the attribution of its invention to Taddeo. The sheet in question was formerly in the Rosenbach Foundation, Philadelphia and was published by Gere (`The Lawrence-Phillips-Rosenbach "Zuccaro Album",' Master Drawings, VIII [1970], p. 128, pl. 6 a and b). The verso studies relate to the Adoration engraved by Cort. The recto bears a different Adoration of the shepherds; that version incorporates the figures of Saint Joseph and two shepherds - the same ones studied on its verso - from Cort's print. The inscribed date of 14 June 1569 on the recto provides a terminus ante quem for the ex-Rosenbach drawing. The latter was sold at New York (Christie's), 11 January 1990, lot 34.