Tintoretto: 11 works

'Although the colors are typically Venetian, Tintoretto applies them to characterize figures that are Michelangelesque in energy and plasticity. Unlike Veronese, whose elegant style enthralls the viewer, Tintoretto utilized the theatrical nature of his compositions to command the viewer to witness the miraculous and supernatural.'

'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.'

'Distorted perspectives, strong light contrasts and the dynamic retreat into the depths of the vast orchard are characteristics of Mannerism, and Tintoretto became its most prominent Venetian exponent.'

'The black suit closed at the neck and wrists, scarcely enabling the white edges of the shirt to be seen, was also well-known in Tintoretto's portraits; this is very similar to the portrait in Detroit, which is not a complete bust.'

'This altar-piece dating from c. 1570/75 was painted by Tintoretto alone, without assistance from his studio.'

'Sometime between 1567 and 1570, Jacopo Tintoretto stood in front of Doge Pietro Loredano (1482--1570) and began to draw, with a brush loaded with lead white, directly onto a canvas prepared with a dark, reddish brown ground layer. At around fifty years of age, Tintoretto was well established in his career as an artist and had been appointed court painter to the ruling Venetian doges in 1559, succeeding the now elderly Titian.'

'Tintoretto's technical facility is evident especially in the vigorously modeled face and the swift, sure strokes of the cape. This proficient style recommended Tintoretto to the Republic's officials, who typically commissioned portraits upon their election.'

'With simple compositional means and striking illumination, Tintoretto gives his aged subject a strong presence, individuality and "spiritual beauty", a quality that is increasingly found in Tintoretto's late portraits. Contrary to long-held assumptions, the painting is now ascribed to Tintoretto himself and no longer to his son Domenico.'

'Carlo Ridolfi, the chronicler of Venetian painting, informs us (1648) that Tintoretto painted this myth with erotic content, together with three further episodes from the life of Hercules, for the emperor Rudolf II.'

'The present sheet is among the more than thirty studies Tintoretto and his workshop produced after a wax or clay replica of Michelangelo's 1528 sculptural model for Samson Slaying the Philistines.'