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What is the subtext of the largest oil painting and why colleagues disliked its author: "Paradise" by Tintoretto
What is the subtext of the largest oil painting and why colleagues disliked its author: "Paradise" by Tintoretto

Video: What is the subtext of the largest oil painting and why colleagues disliked its author: "Paradise" by Tintoretto

Video: What is the subtext of the largest oil painting and why colleagues disliked its author:
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Tintoretto is one of the best masters of the Late Renaissance, along with Veronese and Titian. He is distinguished from his colleagues by the highest speed of work, as well as sparkling and spiritualistic talent. Why did the artists of Venice dislike him, and what is the implication of Paradise, the largest oil painting in the world?

Biography and work of Tintoretto

The Tintoretto family (his real name was Jacopo Robusti) came from Lombardy. The father, Giovanni, was a dye (tintore), and the son was nicknamed Tintoretto - "little dyer". Jacopo was born and worked in Venice, which at that time was a treasure trove of talents. Favorable geographical position (Venice owned the islands of Crete, the Peloponnese and its own fleet), the local school of painting, political and economic stability, wealth of aristocrats, the position of the city in the center of the world - all this made Venice the center of pictorial art. Venice - the greatest empire of geniuses and a symbol of the service of art gave birth to a galaxy of the best of the best of that time, including Giovanni Bellini, Tintoretto, Titian, Michelangelo, Veronese.

Veronese, Tintoretto, Titian
Veronese, Tintoretto, Titian

An interesting incident from childhood: Jacopo Robusti, a born artist, started the walls at the request of his father. He, who noticed the beginnings of talent in the boy, took him to Titian's workshop. Tintoretto was at that time only 15 years old. He prepared his drawings and sketches, but on the next tenth day of training, Titian's servant came up and kindly asked him … not to come to school again. Titian saw in Tintoretto's sketches a real rival and rival in painting. All Venice was seething with heated debates: who is more talented? Tintoretto or Titian? Who wrote the next masterpiece better? Tintoretto's gift attracted the outrage not only of Titian, but also of many of his fellow contemporaries. He was really disliked for his high speed of work and for his diplomatic ability to receive orders.

There is one interesting story: the Brotherhood of St. Roja has announced a competition for the painting of the ceiling in the church of Scuola di San Rocco. The artists had to prepare sketches with ideas and come on the same day to select candidates. When that day came, a commission met to evaluate the sketches submitted. All artists in turn passed their sketches to the members of the jury. Only Tintoretto stood modestly in the corner. When the members of the commission paid attention to him, he silently pointed to the ceiling, which was already magnificently painted. It was “St. Roch in glory."

Tintoretto did not ask for or receive anything for this work. The commission was delighted with the quality and speed of the work (while other candidates were preparing only sketches, Jacopo had already painted the ceiling). The unselfishness of the master and his talent attracted attention. He was inundated with orders, and after a fairly short time he gained popularity.

St. Roch in glory
St. Roch in glory

Among other things, there is one more quality for which he was disliked - Tintoretto was silversmith (which means giving up wealth and money in the name of faith and talent), able to work for free. There were cases when a master wrote one work for an agreed price, and donated the second for free. His noble idea of art and his lofty personal ambitions were confirmed by the inscription, which he placed above his studio, "Michelangelo's drawing and the color of Titian." Among his customers (eminent townspeople) were monarchs: King Philip II of Spain and the head of the Roman Empire Rudolph II.

Tintoretto is a master of the whirlwind, miracles, strong spirit and energy, spontaneity and spiritualism, self-taught, who, thanks to perseverance and work, made a huge personal leap forward. Tintoretto painted pictures no longer in the spirit of the Renaissance (he was born at the end of the era), he worked and wrote in advance, was partly a mannerist, trying and developing new painting techniques. At the same time, in life he was a modest family man and the father of 3 children.

After Titian's death in 1476, Jacopo was recognized as the best painter of Venice. Only his friend, P. Veronese, could compare with him. After the death of Veronese (1588), Jacopo received the order for painting the Doge's Palace (a similar order is a recognition of merit and talent). Tintoretto created Paradise, which amazed the Venetians with its scale and realism.

"Paradise" - a grandiose wall painting in the Doge's Palace

The culmination of creativity Tintoretto, the last of his monumental paintings, was "Paradise" measuring 22x9 meters. The painting was painted for the front wall of the Great Council Hall of the Doge's Palace in Venice, badly damaged in a fire in 1577. Tintoretto took part in the design of a number of premises of the Doge's Palace. Four canvases of his authorship, exhibited in the Hall of the College Entrance, clearly testify to his pictorial skill: mythological scenes are very skillfully constructed in space, almost like on a theater stage.

The next order was to be fulfilled by Veronese, but after his death he passed to Tintoretto. The hall for the future masterpiece was a chamber of legislative councils and the subject matter of the canvas was chosen for a reason: the artist wanted to provide an edifying effect with such a powerful and even somewhat frightening picture (so that the Board of the Council followed religious humane goals in the implementation of lawmaking). The result of productive work has become so large-scale, so colossal in its power, so reckless in its bold concept, that it challenges the entire Venetian aristocracy.

Fragments of "Paradise"
Fragments of "Paradise"

Tintoretto said that he prayed to God that he received this order at the end of his life ("Paradise" was written by him at the age of 70) so that the painting could become his reward after death. All Venice hailed the excellent achievement of Jacopo Robusti. Upon completion of this work, it became the largest oil painting in the world.

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