DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68745#0136
TINTORETTO
other great building in which such a connected scheme is carried
out, and when we recall the course of Tintoretto’s early studies
and his well-known reverence and admiration for the work of
Michelangelo.
The direct glorification of the patron saint is the subtle one of
suggesting the analogy between his acts and those of Divine
Mercy. The central picture of Moses staying the plague of
serpents commemorates S. Roch’s chief function of curing the
plague-stricken, but those of Moses relieving the people in hunger
and thirst are also typical of S. Roch, and Moses when he fled
from Egypt may be compared to the young saint starting on his
journey.
The Bible quotations chosen are evidently those which inspired
the artist, and they prove how closely he has followed all the cir-
cumstances and allusions. It is of course most probable that
Tintoretto had ecclesiastical advice; indeed some critics think
that he certainly must have had an intimate friend and adviser
who was a priest, and who was able to prompt him continually in
his choice of details, for these are so ample and usually so true to
tradition. This may very well have been the case, but we can
hardly doubt that his own intellect and fancy had a prime share
in the planning of his subjects, for the same love of symbolical
allusion and allegorical intention runs through all his work and is
as noticeable in some small ‘ Last Supper,’ painted for an obscure
sacristy, as on these vast walls, where his imagination at last had
free play. In fact the more we study the Scuola di San Rocco,
the more convinced we become that one mind is mainly responsible
for the whole ; that elaborate and complicated as the plan is, it is
hardly more so than that of some of the cartoons, in which it is
almost impossible to unravel all the significant detail; and that
the fertile and teeming mind which imagined the one, was
without doubt able to conceive and work out the other.
74
other great building in which such a connected scheme is carried
out, and when we recall the course of Tintoretto’s early studies
and his well-known reverence and admiration for the work of
Michelangelo.
The direct glorification of the patron saint is the subtle one of
suggesting the analogy between his acts and those of Divine
Mercy. The central picture of Moses staying the plague of
serpents commemorates S. Roch’s chief function of curing the
plague-stricken, but those of Moses relieving the people in hunger
and thirst are also typical of S. Roch, and Moses when he fled
from Egypt may be compared to the young saint starting on his
journey.
The Bible quotations chosen are evidently those which inspired
the artist, and they prove how closely he has followed all the cir-
cumstances and allusions. It is of course most probable that
Tintoretto had ecclesiastical advice; indeed some critics think
that he certainly must have had an intimate friend and adviser
who was a priest, and who was able to prompt him continually in
his choice of details, for these are so ample and usually so true to
tradition. This may very well have been the case, but we can
hardly doubt that his own intellect and fancy had a prime share
in the planning of his subjects, for the same love of symbolical
allusion and allegorical intention runs through all his work and is
as noticeable in some small ‘ Last Supper,’ painted for an obscure
sacristy, as on these vast walls, where his imagination at last had
free play. In fact the more we study the Scuola di San Rocco,
the more convinced we become that one mind is mainly responsible
for the whole ; that elaborate and complicated as the plan is, it is
hardly more so than that of some of the cartoons, in which it is
almost impossible to unravel all the significant detail; and that
the fertile and teeming mind which imagined the one, was
without doubt able to conceive and work out the other.
74