Il disegno di Michelangelo ed il colorito di Tiziano ('Michelangelo's design and Titian's colour') Tintoretto's motto, inscribed on his studio wall
Originally from Brescia in Lombardy (but then part of the Venetian Republic) Tintoretto (Jacopo Comin or Robusti, 1518–94), the eldest of 21 children, was given his name, ‘little dyer’, after his father’s profession, but as a child he was known as 'Robusti' because of his father's robust defence as a soldier at the gates of Padua during the War of the Cambrai.
Highly ambitious and full of energy, Tintoretto went on to become one of the most prolific, original and successful artists of the High Renaissance and a precursor of Mannerism, with his use of exaggerated gestures, lighting and striking use of perspective and unusual angles. He made a close study of Michelangelo's muscular forms and drawing, and followed Titian's loose brush style with a passion that earned him the nickname 'il Furioso' from his contemporaries.
Image by PD Art