DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68745#0174
TINTORETTO
would have treated such a subject, with the various expressions of
dignity, pride and passion upon the faces of the principal actors,
the splendid colours, the glitter of jewels and armour, and the
strong effects from the flame of the falling torches, striking upon
the faces above and down upon that group below, ‘ of utmost
beauty and charm.’ This was followed by a ‘Last Judgment’
in the Sala dello Scrutinio, ordered by Pietro Loredano and Alvise
Mocenigo, which is said by Ridolfi to have been so terrible a
piece of work that it overpowered those who beheld it. The
more credit is due to Tintoretto, as Vasari says that Titian
helped his son in his painting of the battle of the Romans.
In 1571 the Battle of Lepanto was fought, and soon after
Titian, as State painter, was called upon to immortalize this,
the greatest of all Venetian victories. Titian by this time was
over ninety years of age, and it was generally agreed that his
share would be very small, and that the chief part of the work
would fall to his assistant, Salviati, whom every one knew to be
an inferior painter. Six years earlier, in his Lives of the Painters,
Vasari had already spoken of Titian as having passed beyond the
age when a man can hope to hold the brush with steadiness, so
that when Tintoretto approached the Doge and Council to ex-
postulate, he was only representing the general opinion. We
have seen how he then proposed to make the Council a present
of his work : an offer which they were glad to accept.
In 1574, Andrea Palladio and Tintoretto’s friend, Alessandro
Vittoria, had finished redecorating the ceiling of the Sala delle
Quattro Porte with rich architectural devices, stucco-work and
gilding, and Sansovino suggested to the painter the subject of
Jove conducting Venice to the earth, to fill the central compart-
ment. This picture is sadly over-painted, but still has some
beauty of a decorative kind. Venice, led by Jove and holding
the baton of office, steps down from the clouds into the bosom
of the Adriatic, and Apollo and a circle of gods and goddesses
recline above, discussing her departure. Eight medallions,
symbolizing the allied towns, placed in the recesses of the heavily
moulded ceiling, have some affinity with Paolo Veronese, with
whom Tintoretto painted in close friendship during these years.
But well as he had succeeded with the ceiling paintings of the
100
would have treated such a subject, with the various expressions of
dignity, pride and passion upon the faces of the principal actors,
the splendid colours, the glitter of jewels and armour, and the
strong effects from the flame of the falling torches, striking upon
the faces above and down upon that group below, ‘ of utmost
beauty and charm.’ This was followed by a ‘Last Judgment’
in the Sala dello Scrutinio, ordered by Pietro Loredano and Alvise
Mocenigo, which is said by Ridolfi to have been so terrible a
piece of work that it overpowered those who beheld it. The
more credit is due to Tintoretto, as Vasari says that Titian
helped his son in his painting of the battle of the Romans.
In 1571 the Battle of Lepanto was fought, and soon after
Titian, as State painter, was called upon to immortalize this,
the greatest of all Venetian victories. Titian by this time was
over ninety years of age, and it was generally agreed that his
share would be very small, and that the chief part of the work
would fall to his assistant, Salviati, whom every one knew to be
an inferior painter. Six years earlier, in his Lives of the Painters,
Vasari had already spoken of Titian as having passed beyond the
age when a man can hope to hold the brush with steadiness, so
that when Tintoretto approached the Doge and Council to ex-
postulate, he was only representing the general opinion. We
have seen how he then proposed to make the Council a present
of his work : an offer which they were glad to accept.
In 1574, Andrea Palladio and Tintoretto’s friend, Alessandro
Vittoria, had finished redecorating the ceiling of the Sala delle
Quattro Porte with rich architectural devices, stucco-work and
gilding, and Sansovino suggested to the painter the subject of
Jove conducting Venice to the earth, to fill the central compart-
ment. This picture is sadly over-painted, but still has some
beauty of a decorative kind. Venice, led by Jove and holding
the baton of office, steps down from the clouds into the bosom
of the Adriatic, and Apollo and a circle of gods and goddesses
recline above, discussing her departure. Eight medallions,
symbolizing the allied towns, placed in the recesses of the heavily
moulded ceiling, have some affinity with Paolo Veronese, with
whom Tintoretto painted in close friendship during these years.
But well as he had succeeded with the ceiling paintings of the
100