Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/350

* TINTERN ABBEY. 302 TINTORETTO. the church was begun a century later through the niuniliccnee of Roger de Bigod, Earl Marshal, and dedicated in 12G8. The tower and roof are gone; but the church remains one of the finest examples of the Decorated Style — the English High Gothic — beautiful in composition and delicate in execution. The nave is 228 feet long, the transept 150, and the width of nave and choir, 37 feet. The ruins of the convent buildings also remain. Tintern Abbey is well known through Wordsworth's celebrated "Lines," com|)osed a few miles above Tintern Abbey. TINTO, DICK. { 1 ) An artist, the son of a village tailor, introduced in Scott's Bride of Lainiiifniwur, and 8t. Uoiian's Well. (2) The nom de phuue of Frank Booth Goodrich. TIN'TORET'TO, II (1518-94). The name usually applied to Jacopo Robusti, one of the chief masters of the Venetian Renaissance. He was born at Venice, the son of a dyer (tintore), whence his name, and at an early age was placed with Titian. According to the tra- ditional account, the jealousy of Titian soon forced him to leave: but their sepa- ration was more probably due to Tintoretto's different point of xiev.-, which saw in the plastic rendition of the human body in action, rather than in color, the chief problem of art. Taking an independent atelier, he subjected himself to one of the severest courses of training on record. Following his great aim, as announced in the motto upon the wall of his studio, to unite Michelangelo's design with Titian's color, he pro- vided himself with casts from which he drew constantly, and he even brought Daniele da Vol- terra's iliodels of IMichelangelo's tomb from Florence. He dissected bodies to learn anatomy, studied foreshortening and motion from sus- pended fig-ures, worked by day and lamplight to get light effects, and did not scorn to learn from house painters the secrets of their technique. Besides the color of Titian he studied especially the ork of his friend Sehiavone, from whom he acquired the technique of fresco, and perhaps also Bonifazio Veronese, whose influence appears in his early works. After such extensive preparation his intense eagerness for activity led him to solicit work at low prices. His earliest works, which are rare, show progress from the dark manner of Sehiavone and Bonifazio Veronese to a greater transparency of color. The first work to attract attention was a lost portrait of his brother and himself with night effect, but the most important surviving example is a "Circumcision" in Santa Maria del Carmine. Somewhat later he painted five sulijects from Genesis for Santa Trinita, two of which, the "Fall," and the "Murder of Abel," are preserved in the Venetian Academy, the former especially being idyllic in sentiment, and almost equal to Titian in color. After a number of facades, none of which survive, his next work of importance was the decorations of the choir of the Madonna del Orto, 50 feet in height, and the "Last Judgment." Finally, his reputation ■was definitely established by the series of pic- tures in the Seuola di San JIareo relative to the abduction of the body of the patron saint of Venice from Alexandria to Venice. The episodes represented the "Finding of the Body" (Brera, Milan), its "Abduction from Alexandria." "Saint Mark Saving a Saracen from Shipwreck" (both in the Royal Palace, Venice), and "Miracle of Saint Mark" (Academy, Venice). All show Tin- toretto at the height of his powers, especially the last, which so good a critic as Taine esteemed the greatest painting in Italy. It is especially remarkable for the intense dramatic actions and the treatment of the light, which issues from the saint's head and shoulders, lending rich color to the well modeled groups. Tintoretto very seldom dated his works, and there is, consequently, no record of his activity betw'ecn 1550 and 1560. It is probable, how- ever, that during this period he painted a large number of his easel pieces, and perhaps the three grand compositions in the Ducal Palace, which were burnt in 1577. In 1560 began his remarkable activity for the guild of San Rocco, whose scuola (guild house) forms a perfect museum of his works, of which it and the adjoining churcli con- tain fifty-si.x in all, painted at different periods of his life. In 1565 he finished the "Crucifixion," a splendid piece of naturalism, and one of his very best works; in 1577 the two panels of the ceiling of the great hall: the "Paschal Feast," and "Jloses Striking the Rock." Meanwhile he had become a member of the guild, and in 1577 he was emploj'ed at a salary of 100 ducats to furnish three pictures a year, which he con- tinued to perform until his death. Among the best are a series from the life of Christ, including a strikingly original "Visitation," "Annuncia- tion," "Christ Before Pilate," "Christ Bearing His Cross," "Ecce Homo," and a "Resurrection." In the decorations of the Ducal Palace, begun about the same time (1560), he was extensively aided by pupils, especially by his son Domenico. In the Sala del Scrutinio he painted the "Cap- ture of Zara;" in the Antecollegio, four charm- ing mythological representations: "Bacchus, Ariadne, and Venus," "Mercury and the Graces," "Minerva Expelling Mars," and the "Forge of Vulcan;" in the Sala del CoUegio, four votive pictures of doges, the finest of which represents the "Marriage of Saint Catharine;" and in the Hall of the Senate, "Venice, Queen of the Seas." In the Hall of the Grand Council the Doge and Senate offer the spoils of the conquered cities to "Venice in Glory," and the four battle pieces of the ceiling show keenest effects of foreshortening. There, too, a whole wall is occupied by his last great work, the "Paradise," 74 X 30 feet, the largest oil painting in the world, but which has suffered so much from the ravages of time and restoration as to be scarcely enjoyable. His altar-pieces and easel pictures are legion, and may be fovmd in the churches of Venice and principal galleries of Europe. We can mention only the tliree fine examples in San Giorgio Mag- giore: "Susanna's Bath," in Vienna, Paris, and Madrid; "Vulcan, Cupid, and Venus" (Pitti, Florence); and "Abraham's Sacrifice" (Uffizi) ; "Origin of the Milky Way " and "Saint George and the Dragon" (National Gallery, London) ; "Diana and the Hour" (Berlin) ; and "Christ Visiting Mary and Martha" (Augsburg), one of his loveliest works. During the same period he also designed for Saint Mark's Church a series of mosaics over the arch and elsewhere of subjects from the life of Christ. Tintoretto shared with Titian the reputation of being tlie greatest portraitist of his day. His early portraits, indeed, are often confounded with.