Probably at the instigation of the architect Vignola (1507-1573), Passerotti received his education in Rome, as the pupil of Taddeo Zuccaro (1529-1566). He remained there for around fifteen years, during which time he earned a reputation as a distinguished portraitist, a genre he continued to pursue throughout his career. But one of Passerotti's first works following his return to Bologna, the Virgin Enthroned with Saints (1565) for S. Giacomo Maggiore, shows little evidence of his schooling under Zuccaro, reflecting instead an interest in the style of Correggio (c. 1489-1534). Thereafter, however, he fell in line with the Mannerist style of local artists such as Samacchini (1532-1577). During the 1570s, works such as the Ecce Homo in S. Maria del Borgo demonstrate an awareness of the work of Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527-1596), before Passerotti subsequently pursued greater naturalism. Inspired by Flemish painting, he also executed from the mid-1570s onwards numerous scenes of butchers' shops, few of which survive (Turner, N.: From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci. A century of Italian drawings from the Prado, Art Services International-Museo Nacional del Prado, 2008, p. 114).