The High Renaissance
 
&

Mannerism


   

Jacopo Tintoretto

(b Venice, 1519; d Venice, 31 May 1594).

He was the most prolific painter working in Venice in the later 16th century and is recorded away from his native city only in 1580 in connection with a commission for the ruling Gonzaga family at Mantua. In his early career he struggled to achieve recognition, which finally came in 1548 with a work commissioned by the Scuola Grande di S Marco. In his mature years he worked extensively on decorations for the Doge’s Palace and for the meeting-house of the Scuola Grande di S Rocco, on which he was occupied from 1564 until 1567 and between 1575 and 1588. In addition to his religious and mythological works, Jacopo also painted many portraits of prominent Venetians. He was, however, never wholly accepted by the leading aristocratic families that dominated Venetian cultural life, and to some extent this hindered his patronage. The swift, abbreviated style that characterizes much of his work caused controversy among contemporaries, and the lack of conventional finish was seen by some as merely a result of carelessness or overhasty execution. Despite a long and busy career, Jacopo Tintoretto apparently never became rich, and in 1600 his widow submitted a plea to the Venetian State for financial help to support her family. 

St Nicholas
Oil on canvas, 114 x 56 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna