Tintoretto: The National Gallery of Art, part 2

When exposed to such rich compositions, I always find my inner Sister Wendy rising up.  The sweet old nun taught me so much about art appreciation.  Look at everything.  Wonder about everything.  Ask questions.  What makes sense?  What doesn't?  What's the narrative?  Not the same thing as what the painting is depicting, the narrative in this case is what the painting is saying to me.  The painting never lies.

As show progressed, some of the works became absolutely monumenta.

"The Madonna of the Treasurers"

1567

Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, Italy

This one is a bit of a "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride!".  The story goes these three treasurers were retiring and handed to give Venice a gift in appreciation for their employment.  They are depicted at the far right, but not good enough to just be visiting the Christ child on their own--they are backing up the Magi!  Brilliant, eh?  But wait.  There's more!  Of course, you have Mary and Joseph in this palace of a stable.  In Tintoretto's delightful mind, you also get Saint Sebastian and Saint Martin to flank the holy child.  

And then in the lower left hand corner is a cryptic little design layed into the side of the bench upon which Saint Sebastian is dying.  There is a latin inscription: "Unanimis concordia simbolus"  I'm spitballing here, but I think is refers to the odd images above the words and roughly translates to "Completely harmonious symbols".

 The gallery also featured several portraits.  All but two of men, a sign of the times.  Below, my favorite of the group.

"Giovanni Mocenigo"

circa 1578/80

Gemaldegalerie, Museen zu Berlin, Germany

"The Last Supper"

circa 1563/64

Church of San Trovaso, Venice, Italy

I fell in love with one.  What a real supper and all the drama and pathos of the moment when Christ has revealed that one of them betray him and they all shout out in disbelief demanding to know, "Is it I, Lord?  Is it I?"  Yet, there is still time to include a playful cat in the mix--brilliant, utterly.  

A room with more large works of heroic themes.

 In one room there was a work and a lovely wax model suspended off to one side.  A closer examination, and you could see that the little model resembled one of the figures in the painting.  The accompanying text explained how notes kept by Tintoretto described how he would make wax models in order to stage them in postures unattainable by living models.

 Across from this there were more sketches.  I thought this one was particularly evocative of the grace of motion that so many of the drawings possessed.

"Standing Clothed Man Seen from Behind"

circa 1557

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's private collection, London, United Kingdom

"The Origin of the Milky Way"

circa 1577/59

The National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

 This one caught my fancy, because it is a topic that you do not often see depicted.  And the exquisite detailing of the pearls set free from the broken necklace to float away like stars from the body of Juno.  It's a detail that has absolutely nothing to do the with myth, but nonetheless strikes you as, I use the world again, brilliant.

 The last gallery contained the largest works, like this one depicting the Virgin Mary contemplating in a garden.  A rather dark and sinister garden at that.

And the circle closes with this self portrait made later in the artist's life.  Painting circa 1588, Tintoretto would have been around 70, just 6 years away from his death in May of 1594.  It's a wonderful exhibition, and it almost didn't happen thanks to the Trump's Federal Government shutdown stunt.

If you're in DC, it's free and highly recommended.