Matteo Zaccolini

Matteo Zaccolini (12 April 1574 – 13 July 1630) was an Italian painter, priest and author of the late Mannerist and early Baroque periods. He was a mathematical theorist on perspective. He is also called "Zacolini" and "Zocolino".

Life and works
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. In collaboration with Giuseppe Agellio and Cristoforo Roncalli, 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. These works, while not in general circulation, gained him renown among eclectic circles in Rome. In 1666, the historian and fellow Theatine Giuseppe Silos described Zaccolini as one of the "Geniuses of our order and most admirable men of his age". Bellori described him as a master of perspective and optics, and as having instructed Domenichino, Gagliardi, Circignani, and Cavaliere d’Arpino among others. Cassiano dal Pozzo disseminated his ideas in Rome, and Nicolas Poussin took a copy of his treatise to France.

Zaccolini was a fervent admirer of Leonardo da Vinci. 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.