Drawing in Tintoretto’s Venice

acopo Tintoretto (1518 1594) was among the most distinctive artists of the Italian Renaissance. Yet, although his bold paintings are immediately recognisable, his drawings remain unfamiliar even to many scholars. Drawing in Tintoretto’s Venice offers a complete overview of Tintoretto as a draftsman. It begins with a look at drawings by Tintoretto’s precedents and contemporaries, a discussion intended to illuminate Tintoretto’s sources as well as his originality, and also to explore the historiographical and critical questions that have framed all previous discussion of Tintoretto’s graphic work. Subsequent chapters explore Tintoretto’s evolution as a draftsman and the role that drawings played in his artistic practice - both preparatory drawings for his paintings and the many studies after sculptures by Michelangelo and others - thus examining the use of drawings within the studio as well as teaching practices in the workshop. Later chapters focus on the changes to Tintoretto’s style as he undertook ever larger commissions and accordingly began to manage a growing number of assistants, with special attention paid to Domenico Tintoretto, Palma Giovane, and other artists whose drawing style was influenced by their time working with the master.
AUTHOR: John Marciari is Charles W. Engelhard Curator and Head of the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York. 175 colour illustrations