Federico Zuccari e la teoria artistica spagnola

Federico Zuccari’s presence in Spanish artistic culture between 1585 and 1724 constitutes a paradigmatic case of cultural circulation in early modern Europe. The apparent paradox between the failure of the pictorial works created for Philip II at the Escorial and the profound theoretical influence exerted on Spanish art treatises finds methodological resolution by recognizing that limited but profound reception structurally characterizes cultural processes of the period. Through a dual approach – material history of books and history of ideas – this study analyzes the physical circulation of L’idea de’ pittori, scultori et architetti (1607) in Spanish libraries and the conceptual assimilation of Zuccari’s doctrines by Iberian theorists. The interpretative hypothesis proposes «transformative reception»: a simultaneously selective process, privileging fundamental conceptual structure (distinction between internal/external design, intellectual nature of art), and transformative, generating original elaborations responding to Spanish context specificities. Vicente Carducho operated systematic translation of theories in Diálogos de la pintura (1634); Antonio Palomino perfected the synthesis in Museo pictórico, y escala óptica (1715-1724); El Greco and Diego Velázquez testify to creative assimilation of common theoretical principles manifested in radically different stylistic manners. The Zuccari case offers a methodologically rigorous interpretative model for studies on artistic ideas circulation in early modern Europe.