TINTORETTO
Monograph Number Four in The Mentor Reading Course
Tintoretto was called by his contemporaries “Il Furioso,” or “the furious.” This was because of the passionate, fiery style which marked his work.
His real name was Jacopo Robusti. He received his nickname from the fact that his father was a dyer, or Tintore. Jacopo used to help him, and so they called him Tintoretto, or “little dyer.”
He was born in Venice in 1518. Even as a child he daubed pictures on the walls of his father’s dye house. His father soon noticed this, and took him around to the studio of Titian, to see if he could be trained as an artist. The famous old painter agreed to attempt it, but Jacopo had only been ten days in the studio when Titian sent him home for good. It is said that the great master did this out of jealousy, believing that the boy might become his rival. However, it may be fairer to presume that Titian really did not think that the young dyer would ever become an artist. It is a well-known fact, however, that Titian was a bad teacher.
Then Tintoretto began studying for himself. He obtained small copies of Michelangelo’s sculptures and drew from them as models. He worked night and day at this.
Many disappointments blocked his path. Titian dictated the public work among the painters of Venice, and he invariably passed by Tintoretto. Therefore, the young artist in order to make himself known, undertook to do great works without pay. He neglected no order, however humble, and he chose his subjects from all sources.
It was not until he was thirty years old that he received a commission to paint in the Ducal Palace in Venice—the desire of his heart. Hard times were then over for him. He married Faustina de’Vescovi, the daughter of a Venetian nobleman. She was a careful housewife and an excellent companion for her impetuous husband.
The next important event in Tintoretto’s life was the decoration of the Scuola di St. Marco. This was in 1560. About thirty years later he did the crowning production of his life. This was the huge “Paradise.” It is seventy-four feet by thirty feet, and is said to be the largest painting ever done upon canvas.
After the completion of this picture Tintoretto rested for awhile. Thereafter he never undertook any work of importance. In 1594 he was seized with an attack of sickness, and he died on May 31.
His daughter, Marietta, was also a portrait painter of some note. She died at the age of thirty, and Tintoretto grieved for her greatly. It is said that he painted her portrait as she lay dead.
Tintoretto hardly ever traveled out of Venice. He liked music, and as a youth played the lute and other instruments, some of which he invented himself. He liked to design theatrical costumes. He was an agreeable companion, but as he was a hard worker he lived a rather retired life, hardly admitting any, even his intimate friends, to his presence.
It is said that when the artist left the house his wife wrapped up money for him in a handkerchief. On his return she made him tell how it had been spent.
There are a number of Tintoretto’s works in England, among them being the spirited work “St. George and the Dragon.” He had few pupils.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 4, SERIAL No. 104
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
National Gallery, London
THE GUITAR LESSON. By Gerard Ter Borch
THE NATIONAL GALLERY