Tintoretto

From “Little Dyer” to Great Renaissance Master

Jacopo Robusti was a Venetian mannerist painter during the sixteenth century and possibly the last great painter of the Italian Renaissance. He took the name Tintoretto, meaning “little dyer” after his time working with his father as a silk dyer in his childhood. His father quickly recognized his talent and eagerness to paint while dying elaborate patterns on silk tapestries. Tintoretto was sent to a Venetian school of art where he supposedly worked under the great master Titian. It is said that Tintoretto was sent home after just ten days of schooling because of Titian’s great jealousy of the young boy’s early talent.

Tintoretto found another studio to work under and quickly rose to the top after imitating masters and learning the mannerist style of the time. Tintoretto had a deep admiration for Michelangelo and Titian that was reflected on his work and honoured by the inscription in his studio which read “Michelangelo’s design and Titans colour”. 

During his career, Tintoretto earned another name – Il Furioso, as he was very energetic and emotional in the way that he worked and had a very proud and independent persona.

He worked mostly on large scale canvases creating biblical or mythical narratives as well as smaller portraits for his patron for which he was often underpaid, stating that he did not paint for money but out of sheer devotion for the act of painting itself.

He was inventive with his brush strokes and his style reacted against Giorgionne’s (another great painter of the time) and paved the way for the Baroque period of art with use of special lighting and perspective which came from studying Michelangelo. After Titian’s death, Tintoretto was lead painter in Venice until his own death in 1594.