DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68745#0223
CHAPTER XIV
PORTRAITS, DRAWINGS, AND FOLLOWING
FROM the time when Tintoretto began his career by ex-
hibiting the lamplight studies of himself and his brother,
he must have painted literally hundreds of portraits. That
of a man at Vienna, dated 1553, is the earliest we can identify,
though a picture like the ‘ Miracle of the Slave ’ is full of
portraits. Andrea Cappello, in the Accademia, is an early
work. The portrait of Jacopo Soranzo, still attributed by the
authorities to Titian, is dated 1564, that of Ottavio di Stra,
1567, and there are others which can be placed between
1570-80. Though numbers have perished, at least a hundred
of unquestioned authenticity have been preserved, exclusive
of donors and portraits introduced into pictures. A great
many more may be ascribed to Marietta and Domenico, and it
is quite possible that other genuine examples still hang in the
galleries of English country houses or in the recesses of Spanish
and Italian palaces. Thode gives a list of one hundred and forty,
and if we accepted the dictum of every one who believes himself
to possess ‘ a Tintoretto,’ the number might be doubled. He has
left us a longer account of great men of his time than any other
painter. Bishops, Cardinals, and Princes came to Venice, desir-
ing to be immortalized by his brush. The ambassadors of all the
friendly Courts sat to him, and he even painted portraits of the
Japanese embassy which passed through Venice in 1585. The
Kings of France and of Poland and all the Doges of his time were
painted by him. When King Henry m. of France visited Venice
in 1574, Tintoretto was called upon to help Veronese in decorat-
ing a triumphal arch. He afterwards disguised himself and
obtained a stolen sketch of the king in pastel. The next day,
through the good offices of Bellegarde, Henry’s chamberlain, he
T.—-9 129
PORTRAITS, DRAWINGS, AND FOLLOWING
FROM the time when Tintoretto began his career by ex-
hibiting the lamplight studies of himself and his brother,
he must have painted literally hundreds of portraits. That
of a man at Vienna, dated 1553, is the earliest we can identify,
though a picture like the ‘ Miracle of the Slave ’ is full of
portraits. Andrea Cappello, in the Accademia, is an early
work. The portrait of Jacopo Soranzo, still attributed by the
authorities to Titian, is dated 1564, that of Ottavio di Stra,
1567, and there are others which can be placed between
1570-80. Though numbers have perished, at least a hundred
of unquestioned authenticity have been preserved, exclusive
of donors and portraits introduced into pictures. A great
many more may be ascribed to Marietta and Domenico, and it
is quite possible that other genuine examples still hang in the
galleries of English country houses or in the recesses of Spanish
and Italian palaces. Thode gives a list of one hundred and forty,
and if we accepted the dictum of every one who believes himself
to possess ‘ a Tintoretto,’ the number might be doubled. He has
left us a longer account of great men of his time than any other
painter. Bishops, Cardinals, and Princes came to Venice, desir-
ing to be immortalized by his brush. The ambassadors of all the
friendly Courts sat to him, and he even painted portraits of the
Japanese embassy which passed through Venice in 1585. The
Kings of France and of Poland and all the Doges of his time were
painted by him. When King Henry m. of France visited Venice
in 1574, Tintoretto was called upon to help Veronese in decorat-
ing a triumphal arch. He afterwards disguised himself and
obtained a stolen sketch of the king in pastel. The next day,
through the good offices of Bellegarde, Henry’s chamberlain, he
T.—-9 129