Lorenzo Soranzo

The subject of this portrait was named city treasurer in 1551, was director of the Venetian auditor’s office starting in 1555, and several years later was head of the public health authority, Soranzo’s age can be found beneath his initials on what may be a balustrade in the left foreground. Here Tintoretto has used a type of composition that served Titian well: the 35-year-old Soranzo is seen in three-quarter view, clad in a coat with fur trim. His upper body turned slightly to the right, he is looking in the opposite direction. Tintoretto uses richly varied lighting to focus our attention on Soranzo’s hands, but especially on his face. But without abandoning the essential
formal features of portraiture that had been established in conservative Venice, the artist creates something clearly new: freed from outward signs of his social standing, the patrician appears not only as an individual in his outward appearance but also bestowed with specific characteristics that are depicted in a remarkably gentle and subtle manner. Captured as though in a snapshot, the stylised movement contributes to the dynamic, even somewhat unstable mood of the work. The commission to paint this portrait attests to the rising esteem in which Tintoretto was held, even though he was never to attain the social (and economic) status of his rival Titian.
© Cäcilia Bischoff, Masterpieces of the Picture Gallery, Vienna 2010