A pen drawing of the Birth of the Virgin after a drawing by Taddeo Zuccaro. Engraved by Cornelis Cort in 1568.

This drawing is probably a copy after the Birth of the Virgin in the Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth (Inv. 191 / Jaffé 382 as Federico Zuccaro). According to John Gere (1969, no. 190), ‘the Chatsworth drawing seems more likely to be a copy by Federico Zuccaro of a drawing by his brother (Taddeo), which may have well been fairly early in date’. The style is characteristic of Taddeo and the treatment of the drapery in the upper part of the scene also occurs in another drawing by Taddeo at Chatsworth (Inv. 195 / Jaffé 400)

The drawing was engraved, with alterations, by printmaker Cornelis Cort in 1568. The print was published in Rome by Antonio Salamanca. In the print, three angels or putti are incorporated into the scene in the lower right corner, and the fourth female attendant on the left is standing with a towel for the infant Mary.