Jacopo Tintoretto

(b. 1518, Venice, Italy; d. 1594) Venetian painter. Jacopo Robusti was called Tintoretto after his father’s profession as a dyer. Tintoretto spent almost his entire life in Venice, where much of his work still remains in the churches or spaces for which it was intended. One of Tintoretto’s most famous works is the series of religious paintings that he did for the Scuola di San Rocco from 1565-1587. By 1539 Tintoretto was independently established as an artist and he eventually became on the Venice’s leading painters; running a large workshop. Tintoretto was interested in the effects of light and shade on compositions. He is said to have had the motto “The drawing of Michelangelo and the color of Titian” on his studio wall. Although popular for his religious scenes, Tintoretto was also a prolific portrait painter; an area of painting for which his son, Domenico Robusti (1560-1635), also became famous. After Titian’s death, Tintoretto, along with Veronese became one of the most expressive and innovative painters in Italy.