DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68745#0043
THE MAN AND HIS LIFE
Palma Vecchio, Pordenone, Bonifazio, and above all, Titian, and all
the great commissions went to this powerful clique. If Tintoretto
had been one of their pupils the path would have been made easy
for him, but as it was, he had to work hard for recognition,
undertaking every small altarpiece or organ door that the minor
churches required, until gradually he became more known and his
work more highly valued. By the time he was twenty-six he
was painting two altarpieces in SS. Ermagora and Fortunato,
others followed in quick succession, and ‘still new schemes boiled
in that fertile brain.’
It is difficult to decide how to place the great achievement
in the Madonna dell’ Orto. Ridolfi says definitely that it was
early work, painted for the sake of getting better known. Later
critics, and notably Thode, put these paintings quite ten years
later. It certainly seems impossible that they should have been
produced in the short space of time before his employment in the
Scuola di San Marco filled his hands. The work, on the whole,
bears the signs of mature knowledge, especially the ‘ Presentation,’
where the scheme of colour is identical with those golden-brown
creations of his fourth decade, which culminate with the ‘ Marriage
of Cana’ in 1561. Moreover, the bearded giant carrying the
golden calf is evidently a portrait of himself, apparently about
forty years old, and tradition has always called the woman in
blue his wife. On the other hand, it is most unlikely that
Tintoretto so late as 1555-60, when he had made his name, and
was loaded with commissions, should still be offering his brush
for the mere cost of the materials, particularly if he had just
taken on himself the cares of a family.
Perhaps the explanation may be that it was in the first ardour
of youth, while he was still comparatively unknowm, that is
about 1546, that he made his offer to the Prior of the Madonna
dell’ Orto. He then painted the ‘Last Judgment,’ which, as
far as one can judge, is the earliest part of the work, and
that which speaks most distinctly of the inspiration of Michel-
angelo, and began upon the opposite wall. Later, when rapidly
rising to fame, he felt bound to fulfil his early promises, but did
so at his leisure, so that the ‘ Golden Calf’ may not have been
finished until the time when he could paint in his wife’s portrait
T.—2 17
Palma Vecchio, Pordenone, Bonifazio, and above all, Titian, and all
the great commissions went to this powerful clique. If Tintoretto
had been one of their pupils the path would have been made easy
for him, but as it was, he had to work hard for recognition,
undertaking every small altarpiece or organ door that the minor
churches required, until gradually he became more known and his
work more highly valued. By the time he was twenty-six he
was painting two altarpieces in SS. Ermagora and Fortunato,
others followed in quick succession, and ‘still new schemes boiled
in that fertile brain.’
It is difficult to decide how to place the great achievement
in the Madonna dell’ Orto. Ridolfi says definitely that it was
early work, painted for the sake of getting better known. Later
critics, and notably Thode, put these paintings quite ten years
later. It certainly seems impossible that they should have been
produced in the short space of time before his employment in the
Scuola di San Marco filled his hands. The work, on the whole,
bears the signs of mature knowledge, especially the ‘ Presentation,’
where the scheme of colour is identical with those golden-brown
creations of his fourth decade, which culminate with the ‘ Marriage
of Cana’ in 1561. Moreover, the bearded giant carrying the
golden calf is evidently a portrait of himself, apparently about
forty years old, and tradition has always called the woman in
blue his wife. On the other hand, it is most unlikely that
Tintoretto so late as 1555-60, when he had made his name, and
was loaded with commissions, should still be offering his brush
for the mere cost of the materials, particularly if he had just
taken on himself the cares of a family.
Perhaps the explanation may be that it was in the first ardour
of youth, while he was still comparatively unknowm, that is
about 1546, that he made his offer to the Prior of the Madonna
dell’ Orto. He then painted the ‘Last Judgment,’ which, as
far as one can judge, is the earliest part of the work, and
that which speaks most distinctly of the inspiration of Michel-
angelo, and began upon the opposite wall. Later, when rapidly
rising to fame, he felt bound to fulfil his early promises, but did
so at his leisure, so that the ‘ Golden Calf’ may not have been
finished until the time when he could paint in his wife’s portrait
T.—2 17