Biography

A native of Sant’Angelo in Vado near Urbino, Federico went on to become the leading painter in late sixteenth-century Rome. As a young artist he went to Rome to work alongside his elder brother Taddeo, who supervised his training and output like a master. The brothers collaborated on numerous commissions both in and around Rome, and Taddeo’s influence on Federico’s early work is evident in the drawings that Federico produced during these initial years. Despite his brother’s death in 1566, Federico became enormously successful in his own right. As a result of his extensive travels his fame spread throughout Europe. Federico’s accomplishment was marked in 1593 with the establishment of his own art academy in Rome, and again in 1607 with the publication of his treatise on beauty and design.