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Adrian Bryant

Amanda Strasik

ARH 464

4 Dec. 2019

Tintoretto as a Precursor to the Baroque

Jacopo Robusti, generally referred to as Tintoretto, was an outlier in the Venetian school

in which he was brought up. Whereas his contemporaries (Titian, Veronese, and Giorgione, to

name a few) largely focused on colorito to convey emotion and meaning in their largely stably

designed artworks, Tintoretto put emphasis on movement. Color is not an afterthought for

Tintoretto by any means; his Last Supper (Fig. 1) shows a deep tenebrisitc contrast between the

piercing light of the candles and Christ's overpowering halo and the otherwise black setting of

the dining room, only occasionally interrupted by minor pigments of figures' clothes and

disciples' clothing. However, the dynamism of the painting – its intense diagonal table that leads

even beyond Christ, and the bottom right scene of the woman by the tub whose outstretched

hand leads the viewer to the man by the table and up to the whirling angels that spin around the

top of the picture plane – show a strong departure from Tintoretto's contemporaries.

Tintoretto's dynamic and dramatic compositions lead him to be considered a Mannerist.

Scholars point to his emphasis on the "plasticity" of his figures, claiming that he adopted fully-

formed figures from the Mannerist tradition in protest of the two-dimensional Venetian school of

drawing.1 It is certainly true that Tintoretto's figures are more dimensional than those of his

Venetian contemporaries. Titian's Venus of Urbino (Fig. 2), while hostess to pulpy, idealized

1. Claus Virch, "A Study By Tintoretto After Michelangelo," The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Bulletin 15, no. 4 (1956): 115; Detlev Baron von Hadeln, "Early Works by Tintoretto-I," The
Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 41, no. 246 (1922): 212.
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flesh, is very compressed in space; her body is laid out for the viewer's pleasure but is not

realistically rendered in her environment. Compared to the stability of Titian's figures,

Tintoretto's can certainly be seen as more defined.

However, to call Tintoretto's figures Mannerist is a stretch. His figures are often

contorted in motion, but never unrealistically so. Rearick notes in his examination of Tintoretto's

workshop drawings a "continuity of form and an absolute mastery of human anatomy" present in

Tintoretto's sketches of the human form, sketches that are "spontaneously expressive while

remaining within the boundaries of disegno."2 A comparison between Tintoretto's The Stealing of

the Body of St. Mark (Fig. 3) and Pontormo's Deposition (Fig. 4) highlight how Tintoretto does

not fit under the Mannerist umbrella. Christ's limp corpse in Deposition floats atop the shoulders

of those carrying Him, and the unnatural curve from his shoulder to his hips is so stylized that

His figure looks more like a cloud than a body. The corpse of St. Mark in Tintoretto's painting is

similarly splayed across the body of a carrier. However, he looks like he is truly being carried by

another human. St. Mark has weight to him as he nearly falls out of the arms of the multiple men

dragging him along. The lines of St. Mark's abs are dim and undefined, as Tintoretto is famous

for his very rushed painting style, but he still is naturalistic in a way that Mannerist work seldom

is.

Tintoretto's dramatic composition and frantic movement are best understood as not an

offshoot of Mannerism, but rather a precursor to the upcoming Baroque movement. His subject

matter even fits comfortably into the Counter Reformation movement regarding subject matter.

As Hall points out, Tintoretto's Fall of Manna (Fig. 5) upholds the Catholic belief in

2. W.R. Rearick, "The Uses and Abuses of Drawings by Jacopo Tintoreotto," Master Drawings
42, no. 4 (2004): 350.
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transubstantiation, something that the Protestants shrugged off as fantastical nonsense.3

Tintoretto's work can be easily understood as work that upholds the artistic styles of the Catholic

Baroque movement.

Pope Paul III Farnese established the Council of Trent in 1545 to collaboratively and

deliberately establish the artistic language of Catholic art moving forward in the age of

Protestantism. Where Protestantism valued the individuality of faith and the autonomy of the

believer, the Catholic Church sought to combat the appeal of autonomy by using art to reinforce

"the Church's sacramental success and communal precepts as a guarantee of salvation."4 An

emotional avenue was presented to the Church that could allow it to use art as "emotional

stimulus" to welcome believers back into the fold, using powerful examples of martyrs and

heroes from the Old and New Testament to show the power they derived and imply that

contemporary viewers could attain that same power through the sacraments of Catholicism.5

The Council of Trent created three benchmarks that all art created for and by the Catholic

Church must follow: the art must have "clarity, simplicity, and intelligibility," "realistic

interpretation," and "emotional stimulus to piety."6 The Mannerist style, which had been

dominating Roman art at the end of the Renaissance, was not in line with these goals. In fact,

Mannerism was seen as exclusionary, only being able to properly understood and interpreted for

the elite.7 The Council of Trent dissolved in 1563, and it took time for its impact to reach all of

Europe. However, the Church was becoming wise to the idea that in order to gain the power they

3. Marcia B. Hall, The Sacred Image in the Age of Art: Titian, Tintoretto, Barocci, El Greco,
Caravaggio (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011), 175.
4. Kevin V. Mulcahy, "The Cultural Policy of the Counter-Reformation: The Case of St. Peters."
International Journal of Cultural Policy 17, no. 2 (2011): 132.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid, 133.
7. Ibid.
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once had, they need to build a coalition of followers from all classes of life in Europe. Art could

be a way to achieve just that.

The bulk of Tintoretto's work falls within the time that the Council of Trent was meeting,

and it is unlikely that he was influenced directly by their deliberations. However, as Hall notes,

many of his patrons were aware of the accusations of elitism that had been heaped upon the

Catholic Church.8 Even if Trent itself was not an influence, the waters were beginning to shift in

Church leadership toward a desire for art meant for the masses. Tintoretto, much like Caravaggio

later would, used ordinary figures and humbler settings to create a deeper relationship between

the viewer and the artwork.9 Beyond the populist tactic of making the figures in his artwork more

humanist, Tintoretto, whether wittingly or unwittingly, often falls within the three guidelines for

Catholic art set by the Council of Trent. Using the Council of Trent guidelines as a lens through

which to examine Tintoretto, it is seen that he falls much more in line with the mass appeal of

Baroque art rather than the exclusive art of Mannerism.

Tintoretto's Ascent to Cavalry (Fig. 6) is perhaps his most Baroque-like work with regard

to how easily it fits within the three principles of the Council of Trent. Regarding its simplicity,

the composition is dynamic but not chaotic. The focal point, interestingly enough, is not Christ

carrying his cross, but the cross of one of the two men crucified alongside Christ. The viewer's

eyes move to the right up the hill they are traversing, and the curve back to the left at the end of

the canvass further upward to make their way to Christ. The figures are individualized and

illuminated, and Christ is easily distinguished not only be the general iconography of His brown

beard and crown of thorns, but also a piercing halo that powerfully radiates from His head. A

crowd of people are walking up the path, but Tintoretto finds space for all of them, making the

8. Hall, The Sacred Image, 188.

9. Ibid.
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ascension feel more like a well-organized caravan rather than an uncontrolled crowd.

Tintoretto also realistically interprets the scene. The composition is dynamic but very

rational; the path to Calvary that he creates could easily be a real one. The figures are donned in

well rendered clothes, mirroring the robes of classical antiquity that are often found in

Renaissance art. The folds of Christ's robes billow beneath Him as He is weighed down by the

massive cross. The weight of the cross also feels weird, in part by the sorrowful look on Christ's

face but also the effort of the man behind Christ aiding by carrying the back half of the cross.

The muscles of the men, primarily those in the bottom half of the painting, ripple almost

overwhelmingly across their body. Tintoretto kept myriad drawings and sketches of the human

body, as well as often creating clay models from which to base his paintings on, so the attention

to the detail of farthest left cross bearer's chest and the arms of the cross bearer to the right is not

at all surprising.10

Ascension to Cavalry, through all of the components mentioned, ends up being quite

emotionally compelling. The composition leading the viewer from the bottom of the path up to

Christ, seeing the cross bearers' struggle up the hill and culminating the struggle of Christ, places

viewers in His shoes. The movement of the piece emphasizes the pain that He is in as He carries

the cross to His death. The people around Christ, all lifelike and individualized, also contribute to

the verisimilitude of the painting. It reads as a real event that viewers are seeing, and the realism

creates a strong empathy and sorrow for Christ that is deeply stimulating.

Ascent to Calvary shows that Tintoretto's work was well in line with the goals of the

Council of Trent, even if he was not influenced by them. However, it should be noted that not all

of Tintoretto's paintings fit so cleanly into the three guidelines. Moses Receiving the Tablets of

10. Hall, The Sacred Image, 180; Rearick, "Uses and Abuses," 350.
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the Law and the Making of the Golden Calf is one of many artworks that appear, at least initially,

very Mannerist. While Moses is realistic in the way its figures and setting are rendered (still great

attention to musculature), and its dynamism provides an emotional stimulus that is very exciting,

it is not incredibly simple. Tintoretto's work can be incredibly chaotic, and while their

components are realistic, their arrangement is overwhelming. Paintings such as Moses and

Paradise look very much like El Greco's Mannerist Burial of the Count of Orgaz (Fig. 7), as all

are triangular compositions that guide the eye upward over overlapping and spiraling figures. So

while Tintoretto shares more in common with Baroque artists rather than Mannerist artists, he

resists being cleanly labeled as either.

Artistic movements and labels are important, as they provide a framework for assessing

commonalities in theme and visuals between contemporary artists. However, to treat labels as

rigid and exact does disservice to not only artists but our understanding of cultural trends.

Tintoretto's art is seldom Mannerist, and calling him a Mannerist feels misguided. Calling him a

Baroque artist though is similarly inaccurate, even if he skews closer to them than he does

Mannerists. Tintoretto's resistance to clean labels is important to question, and thinking about

whether he is more a Mannerist or a Baroque artist, is important because the audience of the two

movements is vastly different. If Tintoretto is a Mannerist, he must be thought of as an

intellectual catering to the niche tastes of intellectuals. If he is a pre-Baroque Catholic painter, he

is creating works meant to be seen by the masses. These are important considerations because

there was indeed a shift from Mannerism to Baroque art, and Tintoretto could easily be a figure

representing the beginning of that shift. If there are movements, there is a changing of hands

between them, and Tintoretto seems to embody the changing of hands from Mannerism to the

Catholic Baroque art style.

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References

Hall, Marcia B. The Sacred Image in the Age of Art: Titian, Tintoretto, Barocci, El Greco,
Caravaggio. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.

Mulcahy, Kevin V. "The Cultural Policy of the Counter-Reformation: The Case of St. Peters."
International Journal of Cultural Policy 17, no. 2 (March 2011): 131-152.

W.R. Rearick, "The Uses and Abuses of Drawings by Jacopo Tintoreotto," Master Drawings 42,
no. 4 (Winter 2004): 349-360.

von Hadeln, Detlev Baron. "Early Works by Tintoretto-I," The Burlington Magazine for
Connoisseurs 41, no. 246 (1922): 206-217.

Virch, Claus. "A Study By Tintoretto After Michelangelo," The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Bulletin 15, no. 4 (1956): 111-116.
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Images

Fig. 1: Jacopo Tintoretto, Last Supper, 1592-94. Oil on canvas, 12’ x 18’8”, S. Giorgio
Maggiore, Venice.
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Fig. 2: Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1538. Oil on canvas, 3’ 11” x 5’ 5”. Galleria degli Uffizi,
Florence.
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Fig. 3: Tintoretto, The Stealing of the Body of St. Mark, 1562-66. Oil on canvass, 13' × 10',
Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice.
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Fig. 4: Pontormo, Entombment of Christ, 1525-1528. Oil on wood, 10’3” x 6’4”, Capponi
chapel, Santa Felicita, Florence
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Fig. 5: Tintoretto, Fall of Manna, 1590-92. Oil on canvass, Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore,
Venice.
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Fig. 6: Tintoretto, The Ascent to Calvary, 1565-67, oil on canvas, Scuola Grande di San Rocco,
Venice.
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Fig. 7: El Greco, Burial of the Count of Orgaz, 1586-88. Oil on canvas, 189 x 141”, Toledo.