Born in
Cesena, he was a pupil of the local painter Francesco Masini. After studying
optics and
perspective in his hometown with the noted mathematician
Scipione Chiaramonti, a pupil of
Guidobaldo del Monte, in 1599 he established himself in
Rome, where he became a specialist in perspective. He became a protégé of Cardinal
Vincenzo Giustiniani, who was renowned for his patronage of painters, including
Caravaggio,
Nicolas Poussin and
Domenichino. Zaccolini collaborated with
Baldassare Croce with the
quadratura frescoes in the church of
Santa Susanna, where he painted the ''
trompe-l'œil'' columns. he painted in
San Silvestro al Quirinale. In 1603, upon completion of the decoration of the choir at San Silvestro, Zaccolini was apprenticed as a
Theatine lay brother at that church. Two years later he took his
monastic vows. From then on, he worked solely in Theatine projects, in
Naples and
Rome. He died on 12 April 1574 in the Theatine house of San Silvestro al Monte Cavallo, now
San Silvestro al Quirinale in Rome. Zaccolini is best known for a four-volume treatise on perspective (1618–22), of which the only surviving copy is in Florence (Bib. Medicea–Laurenziana, MS. Ash. 1212):
De colori treats the
theory of color;
Prospettiva del colore discusses practice, emphasizing the use of
hue and value gradients to create the illusion of depth;
Prospettiva lineale presents
perspective projection and measurement; and
Della descrittione dell’ombre prodotte da corpi opachi rettilinei explains the projection of cast shadows. According to Zaccolini's early biographer Cassiano dal Pozzo, the earliest version of the manuscript was written in
mirror-script which, like the manuscript's content, revealed the influence of the writings of Leonardo. Zaccolini's emphasis on the importance of scientific knowledge in the imitation of nature encouraged the development of a rationalist approach associated with
classicism in 17th-century art. == Notes ==