Jacopo Robusti, called Jacopo Tintoretto

London, Colnaghi, In the company of Old Masters, 11 October - 4 November 2005.

In the company of Old Masters, exhibition catalogue, London, Colnaghi,11 October - 4 November 2005, reproduced in colour.

The following condition report is provided by Rebecca Gregg, who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. The canvas has been lined onto a secondary support; the adhesion between the layers appears good. There are no planar deformations and the overall tension is good. The stretcher appears sound and all the keys are present. The original paint layers appear in relatively good condition. There are no recent damages or loss and the adhesion between the paint and ground layers and the support appears good. There has been an extensive restoration campaign. There are relatively few distinct damages, in particular in the canal located approximately 5.5cm from the left and 7cm from the lower edge. The left edge, upper and majority of the lower edge has also been extensively repainted. The painting has been extensively retouched, especially the sky where there is a second layer of tiny brush strokes emulating a canvas weave above the over-paint. Many of the dark lines of the composition have been strengthened with retouching. There is a varnish layer present which appears specked under ultra violet examination. This is most noticeable across the large building on the right and across the boats. It appears as if this layer could be the remnants of an older fluorescing varnish layer which has not been cleanly removed from the canvas weave. There is a recent varnish layer present. The painting was examined in the frame.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

By the early 1550s Tintoretto had refined his vocabulary as a portraitist and in 1551 he had replaced Titian as official portraitist to the Venetian Republic. His social connections, the quality of his work and above all his speed of execution secured him this position. This present portrait most likely dates from this decade, which was without doubt the most important in terms of his development as a portrait painter. The increasingly  large number of official commissions finally culminated in 1559 with his portrait of the Doge Giuliano Priuli. Another comparable portraits from this period include the similarly martial portrait of an anonymous thirty-year old Commander in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, or the Benedetto Soranzo of circa 1557 at Harewood House.¹  The deliberately restrained colour palette, the sympathetic and assured handling of the face, contrasted with the bolder and more rapid brushtrokes delineating the armour and its sheen are typical of Tintoretto's mature style. The abiding influence remains that of Titian, and in works such as this Tintoretto must surely have been aware of the latter's portraits of the Emperor Charles V (now lost) , Francesco Maria della Rovere (1536, Uffizi)  or his Alfonso d'Avalos of 1533 now in the Getty.²

Although the mounting pressures of commissions would inevitably diminish his own participation in many later works, Tintoretto's abilities as a portraitist were greatly admired by his contemporaries. Cristoforo Sorte, writing in his Ossservationi nella pittura in 1580, praised his 'perfettissimo giudicio nei ritratti' (most perfect judgement in portraits) and in his Trattato dell'arte della pittura of 1584 Gian Paolo Lomazzo refers to him as 'ritrattista d'eterna fama' (a portraitist of eternal fame).

We are grateful to both Frederick Ilchman and Dr. Robert Echols for endorsing the attribution to Jacopo Tintoretto, with perhaps the exception of the armour, on the basis of a photograph, and for suggesting a date of execution in the 1550s.

 

1. Both exhibited, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, amd Venice, Galleria dell'Accademia, Jacopo Tintoretto. Portraits, 1994, cat. nos. 17 and 18.
2. For which see H. Wethey, The paintings of Titian,  vol. II, The Portraits, London 1971, pp. 78-9, 135-6, 191-2, cat. nos 9, 89 and L3, reproduced figs. 49, 56 and 67