500th Anniversary of Tintoretto’s birth
Two extraordinary monographic exhibitions dedicated to the Venetian artist Tintoretto, one of the giants of sixteenth century European painting, will be held at the Doge’s Palace and at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, from 7th September 2018 until 6th January 2019. These exhibitions will kick off the celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of the birth of Jacobo Robusti, known as Tintoretto. The anniversary will also be celebrated in 2019 with an unprecedented exhibition at the National Gallery of Washington, the first ever retrospective of the artist’s work to be held outside Italy.
The exhibition in the Doge’s Palace
(called “Tintoretto 1519 – 1594” and curated by Robert Echols and Frederick Ilchman, under the consultative direction of Gabriella Belli) will showcase around seventy of Tintoretto’s paintings, including his large canvases. These can be admired together with a rare core of drawings that illustrate the artist’s creative process, and have been chosen with particular reference to the paintings on display. They include exceptional loans from Italian and London museums including: the National Gallery, the Royal Collection, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Courtauld Gallery. Works will also come from Paris, Ghent, Lyon, Dresden, Otterlo, Prague and Rotterdam. The Prado in Madrid will send five extraordinary works, including “Joseph and the Wife of Potiphar” (c. 1555), “Judith and Holofernes” (1552–1555) and “The Rape of Helen” (1578-1579), which is over three metres long. “Susanna and the Elders,” Tintoretto’s famous and fascinating masterpiece from 1555-1556, will arrive from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and, thanks to the Staatliche Museen of Berlin, visitors will also be able to appreciate his depiction of nobility with “The Portrait of Giovanni Mocenigo” (c. 1580).
“The Young Tintoretto” exhibition, held at the Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia
features an integrated sequence of extraordinary masterpieces from the world’s major public and private collections. Many of Tintoretto’s paintings in Venice will be restored for the occasion, thanks to the support of Save Venice Inc., so that their full expressive power may be admired.
The celebrations in Venice will include links with Titian and other Venetian artists, and collaborative events at churches and the city’s “Scuole Grandi,” especially the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, which houses a large collection of Tintoretto’s artworks.
Particularly interesting is the area of Cannaregio. Literally a few steps from Hotel Heureka, you will discover both the church of Madonna dell‘Orto (where Tintoretto is buried) and the house in which the artist was born in 1519 and died in 1594.
The church of Madonna dell’Orto also contains several of Tintoretto’s masterpieces, such as the “Presentation of the Virgin Mary” and the “Idolatry of the Golden Calf.”
Both of these venues demonstrate how deep the relationship was between the artist and this part of the city.
“Tintoretto 1519 – 1594”
Palazzo Ducale
www.palazzoducale.visitmuve.it
“The young Tintoretto ”
Gallerie dell’Accademia
www.gallerieaccademia.it