Jacopo Tintoretto - Venetian art in the 16th Century

Hi everyone,

I really enjoyed writing the Titian blog piece so today I thought I would tell you about another of my favourite artists. I have a particular interest in 16th century Venice so I thought today I would tell you about Tintoretto who was another artist who was working in Venice at the time, Tintoretto. Tintoretto's approach is the direct opposite to Titian so I thought it would be a good comparison. In todays post I thought I would tell you a bit about Tintoretto as an artist and then later this week I will talk about some of his paintings.

Jacopo Tintoretto was born and also died in Venice, unlike Titian who was born outside of Venice but moved there aged 10. Tintoretto stayed in his native city nearly all of his life and there is only one record of him going away from Venice which was in 1580 for a commission in Mantua. He painting religious and mythological works as well as portraits of prominent Venetians. Early on in his career he struggled to gain recognition and was never wholly accepted by the leading aristocratic families in Venice. His recognition as a painter came with his comission by the Sculola Grande di S. Marco and later in is career he also worked in the Doge's palace (a Doge is the leader of Venice).

This is a self portrait of Tintoretto 1518-1594

He was said to have ....'the draughtsmanship of Michelangelo and the colouring of Titian'.

He set himself up in opposition to Titian. Tintoretto and Titians work both have an unfinished quality to them. Although both artists have this same quality in their work the reason for this is very different.Titian deliberately creates this unfinished look as an artistic effect. He built up his paint surface layer after layer to create a loose, rough effect which appears unfinished when examined closely but finished when looking from a distance. Tintoretto  was known for his 'prestezza' which means his speed of execution and the quickness of his actual brushstrokes. However, this is not an artistic effect but rather due to the speed of execution and economy of effort. His work can be described as 'non finito', not finished. Tintoretto instead provides us with the idea, the outline but does not fill in the smaller details. It is not highly finished. In his work we will know what a detail is meant to be but it is not an accurate representation of that object but rather the impression of it.

The Miracle of St Mark freeing the Slave- Tintoretto 1548.

He was clever in the way he gained commissions but also engaged in ethically dubious practices  He often under cut competitors to win prized commissions  At first his deals seemed like extraordinary acts of generosity because of their low cost but in the long run it meant he won lots of major commissions and was commissioned to do things that he might not have been commissioned to do if he hadn't have charged. This helped him build a reputation as an artist and increased his status therefore helping him to become successful. His technique of rapid painting allowed him to take on many commissions as it took him a lot less time to complete a painting than his rivals such as Titian.

The lack of opulence in Tintoretto's work is demonstrated in works like The Last Supper.

While Titian often painted rich fabrics and opulence as this challenged him as a painter to recreate them realistically, Tintoretto moved away from this style and created work which was devotional and more humble in subject matter. This was important as during the time there was the Catholic and counter reformation. There was a move away from opulence and luxury and a more towards a more humble way of expressing devotional aspects in a visual form.

There are also differences between Titan and Tintoretto in commissions. Tintoretto was a native Venetian and very loyal to his city. Titian (who was dominating Venetian art at the time) started to look beyond Venice and had international commissions while Tintoretto had nearly all of his commissions in Venice. Two very different ways of working and of gaining commissions.

Vasari who wrote biographies on the artists at the time and was extremely influential in his writings treated Tintoretto's art as a joke which had a negative impact on his work.

Hope you have enjoyed this introduction to Tintoretto and be sure to check back on my blog later on in the week for discussions of some of his key paintings.

The Dorothy Days

Titian's Noli me Tangere

Hi everyone,

A some of you know I have a really big passion for art and studied History of Art at university so I thought today I would tell you about one of my favourite painters....Titian. His work is absolutely amazing and we are lucky to have quite a few examples of his work in the National Gallery in London. I love going over there and looking at his work.

Titian was a 16th century painter who spent most of his working life in Venice, Italy after moving there aged 10. He trained under a mosaicist and then moved to the workshop of Gentile Bellini and later Giovanni Bellini; two well respected artists in Venice at the time (they were brothers).

He had a long career and enjoyed success both within Venice and internationally. His clients ranged from the church, Emperors, Kings and wealthy Venetian patrons.

Here is one of my favourite paintings by Titian called Noli me Tangere

This work is one of Titian's early works, painted in c 1514, and you can see the influence of Giorgione; a artist who was working in Venice around the same time and was famed for his landscapes and pastoral moods. The title of the painting, Noli me Tangere, comes from the Gospels. It means 'let no one touch me' in latin, referring to when Christ went to heaven and was ressurected he did not want his followers to cling to his physical presence. The scene which Titian has chosen to depict is after the Resurrection of Christ. Christ has been crucified and entombed. Three days later Mary Magdalen finds Christ's tomb empty. She is shocked and tells the first person she sees, a man who she believes to be a gardener but he is infact Christ who appears to her (she is the figure seen on the floor) to comfort her. He was originally painted wearing a gardener's hat but this was altered by Titian. Mary Magdelene reaches out to touch Christ but he bends his body away from her so she cannot touch him. His facial expression is one of sympathy and concern for her. Christ appears in a ghost like form, showing his change from physical presence on the earth to the holy spirit. Mary Magdelene is diagonal on the floor. Her closeness to the ground shows she is strongly rooted in the physical world while Christ in contrast is standing and is closer to the sky symbolising his closeness to God and to heaven. This marks the shift between him being present physically on earth and him being present in spirit.

The figures are very harmonious in the landscape. The shape of Mary's body is curved and the line of her body continues up into the tree. The curve of Christ's body flows into the curve of the rocks behind him so together this forms an ' X' shape.

The landscape in which the figures are set in is very beautiful and atmospheric.The scene is set in the morning, so is true to the story in the bible. We cannot see the rising sun but can see the beams of light on the buildings on the right hand side so have the feeling of morning time. Behind Christ is a flock of sheep; a symbol of Christ's followers. The landscape is naturalistic and viewers at the time felt as if they could walk into the painting because of its life like qualities.

The colours in the painting are vibrant particularly in the red of her robe and the blue of the sky. The green colours in the painting would have originally been much more vibrant but have faded over time due to the type of pigment which Titian used.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and learning a little bit about this wonderful painting. We are lucky enough to have it in the National Gallery, London so if you are local please do stop in and take a look at it (its free to enter the gallery). It is even more breathtaking in reality and when you can see all the little details.

The Dorothy Days