Jacopo "Tintoretto" Robusti
An Italian Renaissance Painter
Who is Tintoretto?
- Born C.1518 in Venice, Italy
- Nickname of Tintoretto means "little dyer" because his father was a silk dyer
- Spent his entire life in Venice
- he was taught by Bonifazio Veronese or Paris Bordone, but his true master was Titian
- Although his work was very daring and lively, he led a rather retired lifestyle
- He was only concerned with his work and his family which included his two sons and one daughter
- His son Domenico became a well known artist whose works are sometimes mistaken for Tintoretto's
What was his work about?
- He was mainly a painter and is known for his dramatic, mainly religious paintings
- He mainly built off of the ideas of Titian and made them even more dramatic and lively
- His painting style was very different because it depicted the movement of figures (such as in the painting Christ Washing the Feet of the Apostles)
- he balanced dramatic lighting with extreme foreshortening which made the paintings more intense and different than paintings of the time
- he was patronized by Pietro Aretino
Some of his famous paintings include:
Tintoretto's Paradise
- located in Doge's Palace, next to San Marco's Cathedral
- it was created in 1577 after a huge fire destroyed part of Doge's Palace
- a competition was held to replace the damaged mural that was burned
- The original winner of the contest (Veronese) died before work could begin, so Tintoretto was commissioned to replace him
- he finished the work in with the help of his son Domenico
- it is mentioned several times in the text of five wounds and is still in Doge's Palace today
- This piece is significant because it is 74 by 30 ft (the size of a tennis court) and was Tintoretto's last major work before he died
- The painting was also very different because it didn't show a base or established foreground which confused the eye and makes it appear as if the figures are just floating and makes light and distance mean almost nothing
- I find this piece interesting because it is so huge and detailed and is one of the largest paintings ever done on canvas
- The "isms" that it embodies are:
~secularism- although there are religious aspects of this painting, majority of it is man and less spiritual concepts
Bibliography:
"Tintoretto." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography in Context. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Selwyn-Holmes, Alex. "Iconic Paintings." Iconic Paintings. N.p., 1 Apr. 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://iconicpaintings.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/paradise-tintoretto/>.