La ricezione (mancata?) dell’Idea di Federico Zuccari

Although Giovan Pietro Bellori adopted an almost identical title to that of Federico Zuccari’s 1607 treatise for his Idea of 1664, later published in his Lives in 1672, the two texts have only rarely been considered in relation to one another. This essay therefore investigates how Bellori engaged with Zuccari’s influential treatise. The author addresses both the strategic aspects connected to the renewal of the Accademia di San Luca and a comparison of the contents of the two writings.  It emerges that, as expected, Zuccari’s Idea constitutes one of Bellori’s undisclosed sources, even though Bellori – unlike his great predecessor – restricts his Idea solely to the Renaissance concept of the Idea del Bello. One consequence of this position is particularly evident in Bellori’s attitude toward the study of nature, which he understands exclusively in terms of artistic perfection, whereas for Zuccari it still represented an open-ended exploration of nature, open to multiple outcomes.