Tintoretto and Architecture

On the 500th anniversary of the Venetian master’s birth, this book shows how Tintoretto used architecture to structure perspective

There is no overstating the long shadow of influence that Jacopo Tintoretto (1519-94) has exerted on the history of Western art. However, in the long historiography devoted to his work, the Venetian master lacks a comprehensive and systematic study of the fundamental question of his relationship with architecture. On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of his birth, Tintoretto and Architecture draws on the most up-to-date writings on Tintoretto’s work and on the history of Renaissance architecture to present a picture of the connection between the space painted in his pictures and the physical space in which they are located; to investigate the role of architecture as an organizing element of the composition; and to understand the original relationship between the viewer and the space in which the work was seen.

This volume includes reproductions of Tintoretto’s works in comparison with reproductions of the works of painter and architect contemporaries such as Paolo Veronese, Raphael, Giorgio Vasari and Andrea Palladio. In addition, Tintoretto and Architecture draws on emerging technology to present digitally rendered 3-D models of the architecture the figures in Tintoretto’s paintings inhabit, underlining the emphasis the Venetian master placed on space and structure. The authors submit such masterworks as The Finding of the Body of St. Mark to this innovative treatment, offering new perspectives on well-loved works.