Origins & Early Life

Jacopo Robusti (late September or early October 1518 – 31 May 1594), best known as Tintoretto ( TIN-tə-RET-oh; Italian: [tintoˈretto]; Venetian: [tiŋtoˈɾeto]), was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticised the speed with which he painted and the unprecedented boldness of his brushwork. For his phenomenal energy in painting he was termed il Furioso (Italian for 'the Furious'). His work is characterised by muscular figures, dramatic gestures and bold use of perspective, in the Mannerist style.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Tintoretto was born in Venice in 1518. His father, Battista, was a dyer – tintore in Italian and tintor in Venetian; hence the son got the nickname of Tintoretto, "little dyer", or "dyer's boy". Tintoretto is known to have had at least one sibling, a brother named Domenico, although an unreliable 17th-century account says his siblings numbered 22. The family was believed to have originated from Brescia, in Lombardy, then part of the Republic of Venice. Older studies gave the Tuscan town of Lucca as the origin of the family.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Little is known of Tintoretto's childhood or training. According to his...

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