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Federico Zuccari was an Italian Mannerist painter and architect, active both in Italy and abroad. Zuccari was born at Sant’Angelo in Vado, near Urbino (Marche). His documented career as a painter began in 1550, when he moved to Rome to work under Taddeo, his elder brother. Zuccari went on to complete decorations for Pius IV, and help complete the fresco decorations at the Villa Farnese at Caprarola. Zuccari was involved in the following fresco projects:
• Decoration of the Casino of Pius IV, Rome
• Grimani Chapel, San Francesco della Vigna, Venice
• Pucci Chapel in the Church of Trinità dei Monti, Rome
• San Marcello al Corso, Rome
• Cathedral of Orvieto (1570)
• Oratorio del Gonfalone, Rome (1573)
• Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence (previously started by Vasari)

Zuccari was recalled to Rome by Pope Gregory XIII to continue in the Pauline Chapel of the Vatican. He visited Brussels and there made a series of cartoons for the tapestry-weavers. In 1574, Zuccari passed over to England, where he received commissions to paint the portrait of Queen Elizabeth (drawing), Mary, Queen of Scots, Sir Nicholas Bacon, Sir Francis Walsingham, Lord High Admiral Howard, and others. Another picture in the same collection appears to be a replica of Zuccari’s painting of the Allegory of Calumny, as suggested by Lucian’s description of a celebrated work by Apelles. The satire in the original painting, directed against some of his courtier enemies, was the immediate cause of Zuccari’s temporary exile from Rome.

Zuccari painted a portrait of Man with Two Dogs in the Pitti Palace in Florence and Dead Christ and Angels in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. In 1585, Zuccari accepted an offer by Philip II of Spain to decorate the new Escorial at a yearly salary of 2,000 crowns. He worked at the palace from January 1586 to the end of 1588, when he returned to Rome. Zuccari was succeeded by Pellegrino Tibaldi. He there founded in 1595, under a charter confirmed by Pope Sixtus V, the Accademia di San Luca, of which he was the first president. Bartolomeo Carducci is said to have studied with Zuccari.

Like his contemporary Giorgio Vasari, Zuccari aimed at being an art critic and historian. His chief book, L’idea de’ Pittori, Scultori, ed Architetti (1607), was far less popular.

Zuccari was raised to the rank of cavaliere not long before his death, which took place at Ancona in 1609.

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