ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: a THEMATIC RECONSIDERATION
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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: A THEMATIC RECONSIDERATION OF THE GALLERIA RUCELLAI OF JACOPO ZUCCHI Adam Alexander Rudolphi, Jr., Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Dissertation directed by: Professor Anthony Colantuono Department of Art History & Archaeology This dissertation presents new research into the Galleria Rucellai, a longitudinal, decorated interior created by Jacopo Zucchi for Orazio Rucellai sometime between 1586 and 1591, arguing for a unifying theme, namely time. Zucchi’s technical and artistic formation, his social and patronal milieu in the years leading up to the execution of the Galleria’s frescoes, and the identities of the patron and his family are key considerations, each connected to the proposed theme. The linearity of time, both as a sequence of lived or historical weeks and years and as an experiential index for the visual material assembled and subsequently described by Zucchi in his later treatise on the Galleria, constitutes the unifying thread. In selecting time as a theme for this monumental domestic decoration program for Rucellai’s Roman palace, Zucchi meditates on its very nature, from intangible and distant mythological origin narratives from antiquity and Rucellai lore to the biographies of figures both famous and forgotten from Ancient Rome, in the era of the Gregorian Reform of the calendar, which changed how time’s passage is marked. Concepts of lineage and descent, whether mythological, familial, or dynastic, express the theme and allow digression into examinations of biography and character, oscillating between the exemplary and the infamous and culminating in a uniquely Italian iteration of vanitas imagery. This combination of exemplum virtutis and memento mori both emphasizes the persistence of a complex form of identity, composed of the physical body, recorded actions, and external, sometimes posthumous character appraisal, and exhorts the viewer to careful consideration of behavior and life choices in the face of death as an end to the human experience of time. Specific appeals to the histories of Florence and Rome, the two chief cities of both Zucchi and Rucellai, link the figures’ own biographies, which flower into encomia that visually revisit, at indexical spots within the room itself, the accomplishments and character each. The entire project is crowned and completed in Zucchi’s Discorso, a treatise that both elucidates the imagery and furthers the artist’s carefully-constructed self-presentation through rhetoric, engagements with contemporary art theoretical debates, and challenges to Michelangelo’s insuperability. A THEMATIC RECONSIDERATION OF THE GALLERIA RUCELLAI OF JACOPO ZUCCHI by Adam Alexander Rudolphi, Jr. Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2013 Advisory Committee: Professor Anthony Colantuono, Chair Professor Lillian Doherty Professor Meredith J. Gill Professor Philip Soergel Professor Marjorie S. Venit © Copyright by Adam Alexander Rudolphi, Jr. 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The journey of this dissertation began a decade ago, while I sat thumbing through folio-sized books on the carpeted floor of the Morris Library at the University of Delaware. I was a research assistant, searching for images suitable to be shot for slides for a new course for which I hoped to TA. The subject of the course was Rome, a city I have loved since I first visited in 1996 and where I studied abroad in 2000, and I did later get the TA job. On that cold January day, however, a giant reproduction of a section of fresco, entirely useless for the course, caught my eye. While I had heard the name Jacopo Zucchi mentioned before, and had even seen a few of his paintings in person, I had no idea then that he would become the subject of my most sustained intellectual inquiry to date. Since that quest has taken so many years and seen me through so many miles, there are many people to whom I owe my thanks. It is a hard thing to prioritize who should come first, or which contribution deserves the most recognition. Each person listed hereafter provided crucial assistance of one kind or another, without which this dissertation could not have been written. The unflinching support of my committee members, Professors Anthony Colantuono, Meredith Gill, and Marjorie Venit, created an environment that nurtured my inquiry from its formalized beginning to its tangible end. Their encouragement, and that of the entire faculty and staff of the Department of Art History & Archaeology at UMD, from the moment I entered the program in 2005, have reassured me that I could do this seemingly impossible thing and that my observations, however small, would be welcome and valuable contributions to academic art history. Three individuals in particular deserve special thanks: Professor William Pressly, who attended informal lectures I gave on portions of this material, always offering compliments and challenges in equal measure; and Dr. Lauree Sails and Dr. Henry “Quint” Gregory, whose pioneering vision took informal weekly workshops on basic technological skills and transformed them into a collaborative crucible that honed the knowledge and teaching abilities of both professors and graduate students alike. Without the lessons I learned in the classroom of the Collaboratory, many of the insights into this material that I offer would never have taken shape. Sustaining the project of a dissertation cannot be undertaken without finance, and I have been singularly fortunate in this area. Funds I received from The Leo and Karen Guttmann Foundation during my time as an MA student at the University of Delaware helped create the basis of my personal library, an invaluable first step in this process. To the Guttmann Foundation and its steward, ii Mr. Larry Putterman, I offer my heartfelt thanks. Mr. Putterman’s advice that I always keep the object primary and his request that I remember in my prayers his good friend Karen Guttmann continue to be lodestones in my life. At UMD, I received fellowship funding in memory of the department’s founding chair, Professor George Levitine. Without that assistance, I would not have been able to undertake research travel vital to this project. I remain indebted to the Levitine family, was honored to have known the late Mrs. Eda Levitine, and have joined the memory of these two benefactors to the litany I recall in my prayers. Fortune also supplied me with full-time employment in the National Gallery of Art Library’s Department of Image Collections just as my dissertation began. While dedicating so much of my time and attention to the digitization and cataloguing of historic negatives of the Kress Collection did slow my progress, it also provided valuable experience, knowledge, contacts, and funding reserves that have kept me afloat. Without my Kress-t Egg, none of this would have come to fruition, and I need to acknowledge Max Marmor, the president of the Kress Foundation, who greenlit the project, as well as an invaluable extension. Two loci, Rome and Washington, DC, provided the bulk of my opportunities to research and compose this dissertation, while London and Florence played minor but pivotal roles. In Rome, I benefitted from the kind assistance and aid of many individuals. At the Biblioteca Hertziana, Dr. Stefan Moret’s urged me to contact Dr. Sybille Ebert-Schifferer, the Hertziana’s director, resulting in vital access to the Galleria Rucellai itself. Dr. Ebert-Schifferer’s kindness in aiding me cannot be repaid, I think. While using the Hertziana’s resources as a library reader, the entire staff, especially Simone Vicari, ensured that the experience yielded valuable leaps forward. Similarly, the kindnesses afforded me by the professional staffs both at the Archivio Segreto Vaticano and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana were extraordinary and much appreciated. Beyond the library, I must acknowledge the unique opportunities I had while in the Eternal City to view privately-held works of art related to my inquiry. Their Serene Highnesses, Niccolò and Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi, the Prince and Princess of Piombino, were most generous in offering access to their home and family archival collections. I am fortunate to have made the acquaintance of Her Serene Highness, who I hope will remain a friend in time to come. The heirs of the Marchese Sacchetti and their agents, Loredana and Silvestre, were kind, professional, prompt, and sincerely generous with my request of access, and I will not forget it. Signora Lucia Caravalle of the Società Dante Alighieri, too, exceeded the bounds in allowing me to view, at length and on two occasions, the rooms frescoed by Zucchi in the Palazzo Firenze, a pivotal precursor to the Galleria Rucellai. Last and most important of all, the family Memmo, the Contessa Daniela Memmo D’Amelio, and her personal secretary, Sonia iii Perticara, deserve acknowledgement, for, without their kind permission, the magical quarter-hour I spent under the spell of a personal experience of the Galleria Rucellai would not have been possible. At the most fundamental, daily level, my Rome time would not have been possible or as pleasurable had it not been for Giorgina D’Ascoli, Nicola Falcone, Rosina D’Ascoli, Antonio Rantucci and Giusi Pierleoni, Maria Anna Falcone, Emanuela Falcone, Carmen Martinelli, Chris Wells, Katherine Jansen, Karen Lloyd, and Emily Urban. From lodging to meals, adventures to enthusiasm, these individuals remain indelibly