Jacopo Robusti, called Jacopo Tintoretto

Contini Bonacossi Collection, Florence, circa 1972.

Princeton, The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1988;
Athens, National Gallery of Greece, El Greco in Italy and Italian Art, September 18 - December 31, 1995, no. 17.

L. Coletti, Il Tintoretto, Bergamo 1940, p. 16;
E. von der Bercken, Die Gemälde des Jacopo Tintoretto, Munich 1942, p. 110, cat. no. 117, reproduced plate 33 (as datable to 1544-50);
L. Coletti, Il Tintoretto, Bergamo 1944, p. 22;
R. Pallucchini, La Giovinezza del Tintoretto, Milan 1950, p. 152;
L. Coletti, Il Tintoretto, Bergamo 1951, p. 22;
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Venetian School, London 1957, vol. I, p. 173;
C. Bernari & P. de Vecchi, L'opera completa del Tintoretto, Milan 1970, p. 101, cat. no. 134, reproduced;
R. Pallucchini & P. Rossi, Tintoretto. Le Opere Sacre e Profane, Milan 1982, vol. I, p. 178, cat. no. 221, reproduced vol. II, fig. 287 (as datable to circa 1558);
E. Weddigen, "Jacopo Tintoretto und die Musik", in Artibus et Historiae, vol. 10, 1984, p. 83;
P. Hills, in N. Hadjinicolaou ed., El Greco in Italy and Italian Art, exhibition catalogue, Athens, National Gallery of Greece, September 18 - December 31, 1995, no. 17;
R. Echols and F. Ilchman, "Toward a New Tintoretto Catalogue, with a Checklist of Revised Attributions, a New Chronology," in Tintoretto Conference Papers, forthcoming, Madrid 2008 (as Tintoretto Workshop).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. One would expect any large painting from this period to have received some reason for restoration over the years, and a painting which had a decorative purpose perhaps even more so, however this picture looks well as is. The restoration, which has been fairly recently carried out, is competent. The image that can be seen today appears to be of the right scale however, there seems to be a slightly later addition measuring two inches running along the bottom edge. There is a join which runs vertically down the right side, approximately four inches from the right edge. In addition to this join, another runs approximately six inches from the bottom edge on the left side. The vertical join which runs through the center of the piece is the most prominent. There may be other small additions around the edges however, in general the bulk of this picture and all of its joins are original, except possibly the thin strip along the bottom edge. The paint layer is stable as a result of the linings, and has been cleaned and varnished. There are retouches visible under ultraviolet light addressing some losses associated with the joins. Some cracking and thinness has developed throughout the painting, particularly in the light colors, which has been retouched. Most, if not all, of these retouches are visible under ultraviolet light, although the varnish does make it slightly hard to read. The painting does not need to be cleaned and the restoration that can be seen is very successful. The legs of the angel could perhaps be more subtly restored yet for the most part this picture has survived well and given the age, the condition is respectable.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Jacopo Robusti was by far the most successful painter in Venice in the latter half of the 16th century.  Jacopo came to be known as 'Tintoretto', named after his father's profession of cloth-dyer. Tintoretto's ability to execute paintings rapidly and on a large scale found an eager audience in Venice, both in the Signoria and among religious institutions: his decorative ceiling cycle in the Scuola di San Rocco, executed in two different stages (1564-67 and 1575-88), remains one of the most important narrative cycles in 16th century Italy.

Scholars have found The Allegory of Music "unique" in Tintoretto's oeuvre. In no other work of Tintoretto can we find the illusionistic framing of his painting: Venetian balustrades with festoons of flowers and fruit with occasional songbirds, creating a remarkable, fool-the-eye transition between the architecture of the room and the opening to the heavens. The division between the two halves of the ceiling draws viewers from either side, both leading the viewer into the picture and into the illusion of looking up at a celestial concert: a scene in the heavens celebrating music as freedom, harmony and celestial beauty. Tintoretto was no stranger to painting architectural settings, many of which were on a large scale and sharply foreshortened. But the crucial difference between those paintings and the Allegory of Music is that this painting, every inch of it, is intended to portray an illusion. It is a unique example of a quadratura illusionistica. Notice the figures we see are not actually playing their instruments but tuning them. One musician strikes a note on the lira da braccio while another is tuning her lute. A singer waits with her book open before her. This perfectly conforms with Tintoretto's theme of painting a visual meditation on harmony, which is an essential precondition for music. It is this harmony that the winged "Genius" creates.

The festoons in particular are an unicum in Tintoretto's work and it has been convincingly argued that their source is to be found in the world of theater. Both the set and auditorium in Venetian theaters were often draped with decorative elements such as flower garlands or hanging swaths of fruit; one such example, Giorgio Vasari's staging of Pietro Aretino's Talanta for the Venice Carnival in 1542, may have been a direct source of inspiration for Tintoretto here.¹ Allegory of Music was dated by Von der Bercken to 1544-50 and Coletti, who first published the picture, believed it to date from slightly later (the mid-1550s). Pallucchini and Rossi considered the painting to have been executed in the late 1550s and in their monograph on the artist they plausibly dated it to circa 1558, by comparison with other works from the same period. The facial types of the female musicians find parallels in other works datable to 1555-58; for example the figure of Tamar in The Meeting of Tamar and Judas in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, or the allegorical figures of Spring and Summer in Norfolk, Chrysler Museum, and Washington, National Gallery of Art, respectively.²  Veronese's paintings in the Church of San Sebastiano in Venice, where he worked between 1555 and 1570, had a profound effect on Tintoretto and the festoons may reasonably be based on Veronese's trompe l'œil garlands in the upper part of the frescoes along the nave of the church, painted in the summer of 1558.³  If this is indeed the case, a date of execution circa 1558 or shortly afterwards seems reasonable for the Allegory of Music.

 

1  See Rossi & Pallucchini, under Literature, vol. I, p. 178.
2  Ibid., vol. I, p. 176, cat. nos. 207, 209 and 210, reproduced vol. II, figs. 271, 275 and 276.
3  Veronese painted the sacristy ceiling in San Sebastiano in 1555, the nave ceiling the following year, the organ shutters and high altar in 1558 and 1560, as well as extensively decorating the nave's upper walls with frescoes in 1558; for garlands in the latter see T. Pignatti, Veronese, Venice 1976, vol. II, figs. 148, 153, and 162.