Artists Jacopo Tintoretto

Jacopo Tintoretto

Italian Painter

Movements and Styles: High Renaissance, The Venetian School, Mannerism, The Baroque

Born: 1518/19 - Venice, Italy

Died: May 31, 1594 - Venice, Italy

Table of contents

> Summary
> Key Ideas
> Artworks
> Biography & Legacy
Influences and Connections
Resources

"Many things come and go, but this great artist remains for us in Venice a part of the company of the mind."

Henry James

Summary of Jacopo Tintoretto

Standing before one of Tintoretto's epic compositions is to be consumed into a world of tumultuous activity, filled with muscular figures interlocked into rhythmic patterns of emotional turmoil and dramatic confrontations. Originally painted to decorate the massive interiors of great halls and sprawling ceilings, the scenes loom threatening to break through the barriers between fictive pictorial space and the physical world. Saint Mark descends from the heavens to protect a defenseless slave, Christ stands amid his disciples and a chaotic scene of attendants during the biblical Last Supper, and even his singular self-portraits which reveal the artist's soul instead of simply displaying his style. Tintoretto's ability to collapse these emotional and physical barriers between the viewer and the viewed put the artist at odds with the established decorum of Renaissance idealism, immediately setting this School of Venice artist apart from the vast majority of his peers. Instead, his agitated brushwork would set the stage for the succeeding generations of artists who would build on his legacy of artistic marksmanship moving away from an idyllic naturalism toward an increasing sense of abstraction.

Key Ideas

Tintoretto's complex compositions stand in stark contrast to the geometric harmony typical of the Renaissance period. For this reason, the Venetian artist is often associated with the Mannerist style, itself defined by its break from the traditions set by Raphael and Leonardo. However, Tintoretto is equally a product of his home town of Venice, an artistic region known for its dramatic use of light and color and lively approach to staging traditional religious narratives, as the Mannerist style popular in Florence and Rome.

Tintoretto exploits the expressive capacity of the human figure in his expansive compositions, such that it is not merely the face but entire figure which communicates the emotional elements of the scene to the viewer. Where the earlier Renaissance artists reflect the sobriety of Classical Greek art, Tintoretto embraces a highly emotive style which anticipates the 17^th-century Baroque period.

Over 400 years before art critic Robert Hughes influential text on modern art, "The Shock of the New," Tintoretto shocked audiences with his radically different approach to painting with speed, dexterity and overt traces of brushwork across the surface of the canvas. Tintoretto's gestural brushwork would also have a profound influence on successive generations of painters, from the theatricality of Diego Velazquez's Baroque tenebrism to the emotional angst and verdant use of color found in the 19^th-century Romantic painters such as Eugene Delacroix and Theodore Gericault.

There are few details known about the childhood and early life of the Italian artist Tintoretto. Born Jacopo Robusti, even the year of his birth is unclear with scholars placing it sometime in either 1518 or 1519. He is known to have been born in Venice, however, making him one of the few iconic artists of the Venetian School to have been born in this city.

Jacopo Tintoretto's childhood, life, career, and various anecdotes

Read Jacopo Tintoretto's Biography

And, the artists and movements that built upon Jacopo Tintoretto's art

Read Jacopo Tintoretto's Artistic Legacy

Important Art by Jacopo Tintoretto The below artworks are the most important by Jacopo Tintoretto - that both overview the major creative periods, and highlight the greatest achievements by the artist.
	Self-Portrait (c.1548) Artwork description & Analysis: Jacopo Tintoretto painted this expressive self-portrait as he reached 30 years old. His dark curly hair, mustache, and beard, along with his black jacket nearly blend into blue-black background while his face appears as if glowing in light against the darkness. The starkness of the composition, quite unlike his densely populated narrative paintings, was unprecedented, as the artist provides no details to indicate a place, context, or even his profession as an artist. Tintoretto's gaze is truly captivating, with his head turned over his right shoulder he stares directly out providing an uncompromisingly direct confrontation with the viewer. This groundbreaking self-portrait was the opening artwork featured at the exhibition, "Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice," at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, celebrating the 500^th anniversary of the artist's birth. The visibly pronounced brushstrokes, appear as natural highlights on the artist's face from afar, are nearly impasto patches of paint on the surface of the composition as one approaches the work. This key brushstrokes of Tintoretto's style, found even in his earliest works, helped to set him apart from the more finished brushwork styles of his Venetian contemporaries such as Titian and Veronese, and would influence the work of his younger contemporaries and subsequent generations of artists. According to Echols and Ilchman, co-curators of the National Gallery's exhibition, "in the context of a self-portrait, the noticeable brush marks, revealing the process by which the painting was created, provide a second self-image of the artist: in addition to showing his physical appearance, the image embodies his distinctive pictorial technique and artistic personality. This may be the first autonomous self-portrait in European art to leave the touch of the artist so evident, functioning almost as a signature. The line that extends to the freely painted self-portraits of Rembrandt, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Cézanne starts here." Oil on canvas - Collection of Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
	The Miracle of the Slave (1548) Artwork description & Analysis: A crowd of figures stand gathered around a fallen nude male, seeming to express various states of shock and confusion. A single figure in a pale, green robe and white turban turns away, holding a broken hammer up for the benefit of a startled leader who leans forward, nearly standing, from of his elevated, seated position. An angelic figure hovers over the event. The overall composition of Tintoretto's religious painting, The Miracle of the Slave, although set within an opulent Roman courtyard, is intense with action. This miraculous event depicts the moment a slave, the nude figure, is about to be punished for praying to relics of St. Mark which his master had forbidden. Three times the executioner attempted to levy the punishment, and each time the tools have broken before the slave could be harmed. This is the work of Saint Mark who, in dramatic fashion, descends from heaven in a red robe and billowing orange cape to rescue the slave and spare him the suffering associated with this painful death. This miracle also converts the slave's master to embrace the Christian faith. The great influence that Michelangelo had on Tintoretto's artistic style is visible in this work; the robust, muscular figures staged in a variety of complex positions are reminiscent of the Renaissance master. Specifically, art historian Tom Nichols describes a connection between the "...reclining nudes which frequent the foregrounds of important paintings from the late 1540s..." including this work, and Michelangelo's Dusk (1526-34) and Dawn (1526-34). Scholars doubt whether Tintoretto saw the masterworks in person, but instead made studies based on sculptural maquettes or other works based on the originals by Michelangelo. Despite some of the initial criticism Tintoretto received for the speed at which he worked, made obvious from the loose and gestural brushwork, this painting had a profound impact on Tintoretto's career. A commission for the Confraternity of Scuola Grande di San Marco brought the artist wide attention, and after which he began receiving many commissions. Echols and Ilchman explain that, "according to Tintoretto's biographers, some members of the confraternity argued against accepting it, enraging the artist, who took it back to his studio. But eventually, the naysayers were discomfited, Tintoretto and his proponents won the day, and the painting was installed to great acclaim." The acceptance of this work was an essential step towards broadening the stylistic range of the Venetian School. In addition to the more traditional approaches of Titian, here Tintoretto provided a highly dramatic presentation of a religious subject which helped to lay the foundation for the future development of Baroque art. Oil on canvas - Collection of Gallerie Dell'Accademia, Venice, Italy

	The Crucifixion (1565) Artwork description & Analysis: Tintoretto's large-scale painting of The Crucifixion features the scene of Christ's death in a dramatic panorama, standing 17-feet tall and just over 40-feet-wide. Amid the tumult of characters, the artist has crafted a complex composition which evokes the preceding events of the Passion, while also suggesting what is yet to occur. The muscular body of Christ hangs heavy on the cross overlooking the mourners who gather at its base, almost crumpled in form and distraught in their grief as they try to comfort each other. Here Tintoretto follows traditional iconography, depicting the agony of the three Marys, St. John the Evangelist, and the two men who will soon lower the body of Christ from the cross, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. The Virgin appears to have fainted, her body swoons into a graceful curve with one arm outstretched, also anticipating the pending deposition scene by mimicking the form Christ's body will soon take. The artist departs from typical renderings of the scene, however, by showing the two thieves in the process of crucifixion, instead of flanking the body of Christ. This reminds the viewer of the brutality endured by Christ only moments before. On Christ's right, the thief who by tradition repents, is shown looking at his savior while his cross is raised, symbolically suggesting his ascent to Heaven. Conversely, on Christ's left, the man who did not accept Christ, looks away while the executioners begin to nail his body to the cross. Surrounding the main events of this biblical scene, soldiers and other well-dressed figures on horses provide witness to the event, as would the elite members of the confraternity allowed admittance into the hall to view the actual masterpiece. Created specifically for the boardroom of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, it is one of the earliest works Tintoretto painted for the confraternity, which would ultimately number approximately 50 paintings completed over the course of more than two decades. While the Crucifixion was a popular subject for artists throughout this period of Western history, Tintoretto distinguishes himself here by presenting one of the most theatrical and densely populated renderings of this subject. Reminiscent of Michelangelo's iconic fresco depicting "The Last Judgment" on the altar wall within the Sistine Chapel, Tintoretto's "Crucifixion" reveals the influence of the Renaissance master in both composition and approach to the human form. As with his predecessor, Tintoretto's figures are full of movement offering a virtuoso display of technique and foreshortening. The tumultuous action of the earthbound figures, which is characteristic of Tintoretto's style, provides a dramatically sharp contrast to the still figure of Christ, depicted in Majesty surrounded with a glowing halo, as he approaches death. For the devout artist, this was a divine moment which represented his own salvation. Oil on canvas - Collection of Sala dell'Albergo, Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice, Italy

More Jacopo Tintoretto Artwork and Analysis:

Influences and Connections

Influences on Artist

Artists, Friends, Movements

Influenced by Artist

Artists, Friends, Movements

Interactive chart with Jacopo Tintoretto's main influences, and the people and ideas that the artist influenced in turn.

View Influences Chart
Show influences

Artists

	Albrecht Dürer
	Michelangelo
	Raphael
	Jacopo Sansovino
	Titian

Personal Contacts

	Pietro Aretino
	Zuan Francesco Barbo
	Marco Mantova Benavides
	Andrea Calmo
	Tommaso Rangone

Movements

	Italian Maniera
	Mannerism
	Renaissance

Influences on Artist

Jacopo Tintoretto

Years Worked: 1539 - 1594

Influenced by Artist

Artists

	Caravaggio
	Agostino and Annibale Carracci
	El Greco
	Anselm Kiefer
	Édouard Manet

Personal Contacts

	Pietro Aretino
	Marco Mantova Benavides
	Andrea Calmo
	Henry James
	Carlo Carrà

Movements

	The Baroque
	Italian Maneria
	Mannerism
	Romanticism

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Cite this page

Content compiled and written by Jessica DiPalma

Edited and revised, with Synopsis and Key Ideas added by Molly Enholm

" Artist Overview and Analysis". [Internet]. . TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by Jessica DiPalma
Edited and revised, with Synopsis and Key Ideas added by Molly Enholm
Available from:
First published on 16 Jul 2019. Updated and modified regularly.
[Accessed ]

Jacopo Tintoretto

Summary of Jacopo Tintoretto

Key Ideas

Important Art by Jacopo Tintoretto

Self-Portrait (c.1548)

The Miracle of the Slave (1548)

The Crucifixion (1565)

More Jacopo Tintoretto Artwork and Analysis:

Influences and Connections