Last weekend for 'Tintoretto' at the National Gallery of Art

Jacopo Tintoretto, Self-Portrait, c. 1546-1548, Philadelphia Museum of Art. He was a right dashing young chap, don't you think?  Who graces the back cover of the Tintoretto catalogue. Here portrayed by himself around age 28. The label copy says "he describes himself with a bluntness unprecedented in Italian portraiture" who a contemporary compared to "a peppercorn that overpowered other flavors in a dish." This portrait opens the exhibition. See below for a self-portrait made after a life.

Jacopo Tintoretto, Self-Portrait, c. 1588, Musee du Louvre, Paris.  Here we see the master aged 70, about six years before he died, and 40 years after the first self-portrait. See what life can do! Where is that confidence and reassurance brimming in the first self-portrait before he turned 30?  Is all optimism extinguished? Above, the artist seems ready to hang it up; consumed by sadness and gloom.  Somewhere I read he is saddened by the death of his beloved daughter, Marietta, but she didn't die until 1590 two years after Self-Portrait was finished, so...?  Perhaps, she was seriously ill at the time.
This portrait, owned by Marie Antoinette before it went to the Louvre, is found at the end of the exhibition, but I thought it interesting to juxtapose youth and old age to more easily compare them. Edouard Manet called the latter" one of the most beautiful paintings in the world." 

 

Jacopo Tintoretto, Spring, c.1546/1548, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA.  The goddess of Spring, Primavera, is pictured with Summer below, the first time in 25 years the two have hung together, which they do on nearby walls at the National Gallery. Tintoretto drew them and the other seasons for a palace ceiling, but Autumn and Winter are not here. Autumn is pictured in the catalogue as a young man, Vertumnus, privately owned. Perhaps the agreement to lend to the National Gallery could not be worked out which explains his absence from the show. Winter, likely lost to the ages, was probably a white-bearded old man similar to the self-portrait of 1588 above.

Jacopo Tintoretto, Summer, c.1546/1548, National Gallery of Art, together with her "sister" Spring (two above) for the first time in 25 years.

People standing near The Madonna of the Treasurers (above) present an idea of the size of the work/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Jacopo Tintoretto, The Madonna of the Treasurers, 1567, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice. This is almost an Adoration of the Magi, says the label, commissioned for a government financial office by treasurers who worked there. Here, on the right, merchants and professionals who are the secretaries in black, present revenue they have collected to the Virgin and Child.  In front of them, the three treasurers in crimson, who represent nobility, bow. Patron Saints Sebastian, Mark, and Theodore stand behind the Virgin and Child, and there is an extra figure who came later/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Jacopo Tintoretto, Portrait of a Widow, early 1550s, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden.  For a widow she doesn't look that unhappy. Do I detect a faint smile? She is wearing typical mourning clothes of the period which do not disguise her near satisfaction that "it's over and done with!" The truth is in the eye of the beholder (me).  She still wears a wedding ring, a common practice 500 years later. The label copy says Tintoretto made few "high-quality" portraits of women, and Widow and Woman in Red (below) may be the only female survivors from Tintoretto's brush. 

Jacopo Tintoretto, Portrait of a Woman in Red, 1550s, Gemäldegalerie, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.  This is red?  Which means you need to see it in person and/or buy the catalogue to see the rich color.  The label says this straight-laced and tightly-fitting gown is unusual for 16th century Venetian women whose designs featured square necklines to better reveal décolletage. This woman may be from Lombardy.  The tightly-strung garment makes it look like breathing is difficult.  As women, we know. 

Jacopo Tintoretto, The Creation of the Animals, 1550/by 1553, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice.  One of my favorites in the show which I think would be a huge draw for all the lucky children whose parents bring them to the exhibition.With the rest of us, they can wonder at the might and majesty of the work. Who doesn't know the story from Genesis of how God created the animals?  It reminds me of Noah corralling the animals into his ark to save them from the flood. Maybe that's where these are headed.  How many birds, fish, and animals do you find?

Jacopo Tintoretto, Standing Clothed Man Seen from Behind, c. 1557, lent by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the lender, the reason I included this here. Her Majesty also loaned The Nine Muses, c. 1578, which you may see in the show and in the catalogue.

Jacopo Tintoretto, The Origin of the Milky Way, 1577/1579, National Gallery, London. Formerly owned by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, this depicts Jupiter, the king of the gods, putting his baby, Hercules, on sleeping Juno's breast. Hercules is Jupiter's son who was born of a human, Alcmene. Juno is the queen of the gods and the wife of Jupiter who wants Hercules to be immortal. Milk from Juno's breast flows north to form the Milky Way, while the lower stream falls to Earth to become the lily flower. The bottom portion of the painting is not immortal, having been lost to the ages, but is known from a copy, the label says. If Milky Way ever becomes available for purchase, perhaps Jacqueline Mars of the Milky Way family in Virginia can buy it for the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and become the Queen of the Milky Way. Just a thought/Photo by Patricia Leslie.

Jacopo Tintoretto, The Virgin Mary in Meditation, c. 1582/1583,  Scuola Grande Arciconfraternita di San Rocco, Venice.  When not at the National Gallery of Art, this work, like the one below of the Virgin reading, still resides in its original home where Tintoretto intended it. For San Rocco, he painted 50 works.

Jacopo Tintoretto, detail from The Virgin Mary Reading, c. 1582/1583,  Scuola Grande Arciconfraternita di San Rocco, Venice. 

Jacopo Tintoretto, The Virgin Mary Reading, c. 1582/1583,  Scuola Grande Arciconfraternita di San Rocco, Venice.  Note the tree on the left which becomes Jesus hanging on the cross. (The photograph of the painting omits the top of the tree which stands out in its symbolism.) The catalogue says she was reading and meditating on the sayings of the prophets.

Welcoming guests at the opening of the exhibition are, from left, His Excellency Armando Varricchhio, the ambassador of Italy to the United States, speaking, and curators and authors Robert Echols and Frederick Ilchman. Between their shoulders, the artist himself peers from his Self-Portrait from 1546-1547 to open the show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The sizes of Tintoretto's works may be more accurately perceived when shown with the guards. Again, that's the artist's Self-Portrait in the center from 1546-1547./Photo by Patricia Leslie

Ladies and Gentlemen, this spectacular show by one of "the three great painters of the golden age of Venetian art" is on display through Sunday at the West Building of the National Gallery of Art. 

The exhibition celebrates the 500th anniversary of Jacopo Tintoretto's birth (c.1519-1594, Venice) and is the first North American retrospective of his work. It's an opportunity to see almost 50 paintings, some shown in the U.S. for the first time, on loan by institutions and individuals from around the world.

With Titian and Veronese, he is considered one of the three great Venetian Renaissance painters whose followers included El Greco, Rubens, and Velasquez.

He was a radical whom his audience adored and who was envied by his competitors. More than any other artist, Tintoretto's works  filled palaces, government buildings, churches, and other public buildings.

He was a devout Catholic who never forgot the poor, cutting prices for them and their churches. 

And when it came to promoting his artwork, Tintoretto was a master marketer who knew (and developed) a thing or two about selling to the wealthy.To increase recognition of his name and market share, he gave away paintings to future customers who had the wherewithal to afford them:  the rich and powerful. (Did you say "commission"?) 

Tintoretto's figures were super humans, sci-fi creatures with huge arms, muscles, and curves whose bodies filled canvases.

Writer Henry James called him "the biggest genius who ever wielded a brush."  Come and see why and enjoy not only his works on the walls but in the National Gallery’s Garden Café where the chef has fashioned a special brunch with variable selections including grilled salmon, baked frittata, spring pea salad, radicchio salad, orecchiette pasta salad, “old-fashioned bread pudding,” and more ($30).
 
Enjoy and feast your eyes and other senses on all things "Tintoretto" before he leaves for home.

The National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, with the special cooperation of the Gallerie dell’Accademia, organized the exhibition.

To the organizers and donors who made the exhibition possible, the people are grateful. 

Film:  19 minutes, noon, July 5, 2019, East Building Auditorium

Catalogue: 312 pages, 240 color illustrations. By Robert Echols and Frederick Ilchman, available in soft ($45) and hard ($65) covers, 2018. (Spend $100 or more at the gift shop and save 20%.)

What: Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice

When: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. Open on July 4.

Where: The West Building between Third and Ninth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall.

Admission charge: Never at the Gallery.

Metro stations closest to the National Gallery of Art are the Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives and L'Enfant Plaza.

For more information: 202-737-4215

patricialesli@gmail.com