Giuseppe Zocchi

Who was Giuseppe Zocchi?

Giuseppe Zocchi was an Italian painter and printmaker, active in Florence, and best known for his vedute of the city.

Born into a poor family, Zocchi began his training in his native Florence. The Marchese Andrea Gerini became his patron when he was very young, sending him to further his studies in Venice, Milan, Bologna, and Rome. Gerini commissioned Zocchi to record all the famous Florentine landmarks, which he did in a series of drawings, now in New York's Pierpont Morgan Library. Zocchi and a number of other engravers copied Zocchi's drawings into engravings, which were issued in two series in 1744. One series consists of 25 vedute under the title Scelta XXIV vedute delle principali contrade, piazze, chiese, e palazzi della citta di Firenze; the other series consists of 50 vedute under the tile Vedute delle ville e di altri luoghi della Toscana.