School of Art

Contact Details

School of Art
Aberystwyth University
Buarth Mawr
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 1NG

Tel: +44 (0)1970 622460

Fax: +44 (0)1970 622461

Email: artschool@aber.ac.uk

Display artist/maker:

Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto

Born: 1519, Italy, Venice   Died: 1594, Venice

Painter. Lived and worked in Venice. 'Tintoretto' is a nickname (dyer’s boy) derived from his father's occupation as ‘tintore’. The name Robusti, which he later used, was also an allusion to his father, Giovanni, who robustly defended Padua in a civil war. Tintoretto was the eldest of 21 children. He is said to have trained very briefly with Titian, and that this was an unsuccessful experience, so that from then on he was self-taught. The painter Andrea Schiavone (1510/1515–1563), a friend, allowed him to help with wall painting commissions and by 1539 Tintoretto was working independently. Utilising wax models and live (or dead) subjects, he arranged his models in tableaux resulting in certain figures being repeated from different angles in his paintings. Between 1546 and 1590 he produced series of paintings for churches, ‘scuola’ ( schools / institutes), as well as portraits and mythological scenes. His most famous works are the Biblical series in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. Three of his children became his assistants, painting drapery and background, and although none achieved fame, Domenico (c.1560-1635) became a portrait painter in his own right

Objects in the collections associated with this artist/maker



 
Gweinyddu