Tintoretto
Andrea Del Giudice
Biography
Jacopo Tintoretto was born in Venice, Italy ca. 1581. He was a painter, some of his works include Man with Gold-damascened Armor, The Coronation of the Virgin (Paradise), and The Raising of Lazarus. He spent most of his life in Venice, being commissioned to paint in many buildings around the city. He was born into a large and poor family. His father was a cloth dyer, which is why Tintoretto was given the nickname "little dyer". He later married Faustina Esicopi and had eight children with her, four of which became painters. In his early life, Tintoretto was the student of Titian Vecelli for a short period of time before he was expelled by Titian for reasons unknown. Other than that, Tintoretto was self-taught. His patrons were the Main State Room of Venice, Scoula di San Marco, and Scoula di San Rocco.
The Coronation of the Virgin
The Coronation of the Virgin was painted ca. 1580 and was originally located in the Doge Palace in Venice, Italy but now is in the Louvre in Paris. It was a huge oil painting on canvas of many different types of people gathered around watching a woman receive a crown in what seems to be heaven. Though Tintoretto painted several other ceiling panels at the Doge's Palace, this painting, sometimes referred to as "Paradise" was his greatest contribution to the palace. This painting is an oil painting of angels, god and goddess-like figures, common people, kings, queens, and knights. All of these different groups of people are somehow sitting on a cluster of clouds watching a virgin be blessed with a crown. The virgin receiving the crown is supposed to resemble the virgin Mary receiving the gift of Christ. I like this piece because of the way the levels of clouds resembles an amphitheater from the ancient Roman times. This painting reflects classicism because of the amphitheater and the gods and goddesses from ancient Greek and Roman times and the knights from the Medieval times. Find a short article on the piece here.
Works Cited
NICHOLS, TOM. "Tintoretto." Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Ed. Jonathan Dewald. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. Biography in Context. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
"Tintoretto." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography in Context. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
Jacopo Tintoretto, The Coronation of the Virgin (Paradise) c. 1580. Musée du Louvre. INV. 570. ARTstor LESSING_ART_10310120542