Art patron and cloth merchant Taddeo Taddei was born on 23 January 1470 in Florence. His family had close ties to the Medici, and Taddeo was friends with the leading humanists, writers, and artists of his day. Vasari reports that after hosting Raphael for dinner at his home, Taddei received two paintings as gifts from the artist. One may have been the Madonna of the Meadow. Taddei also owned an unfinished marble tondo by Michelangelo. Taddei built a magnificent palace for himself on Via Ginori, not too far from San Lorenzo and the Medici household.
Reference: Alessandro Cecchi. “Taddei, Taddeo.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John, ca. 1504-5, marble relief. London, Royal Academy of Arts, Bequeathed by Sir George Beaumont, 1830.
Raphael, Madonna of the Meadow, 1505, oil on panel. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Baccio d’Agnolo, Palazzo Taddei, 1520s. Florence, Via Ginori, 15.