[caption id="attachment_1850" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Hell&#039;s Kitchen presents The Last Supper!"]<a href="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/hells-kitchen-logo.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1850" src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/hells-kitchen-logo-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>[/caption]

Over the course of his illustrious career, Tintoretto painted
exactly eight versions of the famous Last Supper, the first one in
1547, while the last painting was begun in 1591 and finished in 1594,
the same year that Tintoretto died. The bulk of these paintings may
still be viewed today, as all but a single one remain in Venice.
Almost everyone the world over is familiar with the imagery of the
last supper, where Jesus and his apostles are sharing the last meal
that they will have together. Judas plots the demise of his master,
while Jesus instructs his followers to eat of his flesh and drink of
his blood while offering bread and wine for the rite of
transubstantiation. Tintoretto painted during the burgeoning
renaissance, and was even apprenticed to the great master Titian, who
re-invented the nude as an art form with his work 'The Venice of
Urbino', which is still heralded even today as a timeless piece. "The
century that began with Bellini and Giorgione is [closing]. Titian,
the colossus, has long been buried in the church of the Frari, and
Veronese, the last legitimate competitor, has been dead for three
years; thus Tintoretto, thanks not only to talent, ambition, and
prodigious energy, but to the brute facts of attrition and survival,
finds himself in the role of Venice's leading artist” (Hahn 200).
Tintoretto’s Last Supper should without any doubt be preserved just
for the legacy that Tintoretto left, but also because his obsession
with this particular image and the fact that he continued to work on
it over the course of his entire career suggests that the artist was
especially close to the story and ideas behind the Last Supper.

It takes almost no skill or knowledge to equate the intense
religious message portrayed in The Last Supper with classical art.
Practically everyone is familiar in one way or another with Leonardo
Da Vinci's painting of the subject, which is still just as eagerly
deciphered for its symbology today as his other immortal work, the
Mona Lisa. In the subject matter Tintoretto selected, he was very much
following the fad of the times, since historical works of art as well
as those containing religious or mythological subject matter were in
the highest of demand. One of Tintoretto's peers, the sculptor
Donatello, portrayed the biblical story of Judith and Holofernes as
one of his works. Michelangelo sculpted the David that still rivets
our imagination even today. According to the Italian style of
painting, Tintoretto's images are carefully composed, with painstaking
attention paid to the details of the arrangement, and the mathematical
proportions of each figure in relation to the room. Humanism was a
prevalent school of thought at the time, defined as any viewpoint that
is human-centered. "Second-generation humanists felt it their duty to
actively contribute to civic life, resurrecting the classical age's
republican ideals along with its literary sensibilities. At the same
time, artists showed a new interest in realistic representations of
the human body, as seen in the works of Michelangelo. Humanistic
values spread rapidly among the elite, including women scholars like
Alessandra Scala and Isotta Nogarola” (Boucquey).

It is only in his technique that Tintoretto towers above his
contemporaries. Although the act of setting up a miniature model to
help guide an artist through properly translating the image they
desire was not unheard of, it is this practice which gave Tintoretto
the ability to create such life-like detail in his paintings. "The
characteristic qualities of his works—a wonderfully dramatic sense of
movement, space, and lighting—were in part aided by his use of small
wax models which he grouped inside a box to create a stage-like
setting, changing the figures, lighting, and setting to explore
different effects” ( Hutchinson ). Among the artists who used this
particular method of preparing their paintings, Tintoretto was
considered possibly the most brilliant of them all, and was capable of
extracting amazing detail. Tintoretto was also among those who used
mannerism to break away from the traditional style of the time.
"Mannerism [was] a style in art and architecture (c.1520–1600),
originating in Italy as a reaction against the equilibrium of form and
proportions characteristic of the High Renaissance. Mannerists devised
compositions in which they deliberately confused scale and spatial
relationships between figures, crowding them into the picture plane.
Often strange tunnel-like spaces were created, as in the works of
Tintoretto and El Greco. Lighting became harsh, and coloring tended to
be acrimonious. The mannerists devised sophisticated and obscure
allegories” (Mannerism).

Even though there are those who look down at Tintoretto for
choosing to work in the mannerist style, as well as those who would
like to claim that the works of Titian eclipse Tintoretto, whom was at
odds with his former mentor, there is no denying that Tintoretto was
acknowledged for his greatness practically within his lifetime. Only a
few decades after Tintoretto's death at the turn of the century,
William Blake was partial to Tintoretto's paintings and made a point
to study them along with the works of masters like Michelangelo and
Donatello. "Although he adhered to tempera, Blake had seen and been
moved by exhibitions of European oils including works by...Titian,
Michelangelo, and Tintoretto at several London galleries, and his work
showed their painterly influence, especially in his use of
perspective” (Heims). A century after that Yeats had glowing words of
praise for Tintoretto, even though he uses a work by Tintoretto to
show how an image can never tell a story as fully as words. Yeats
illustrates his point with Tintoretto's painting Origin of the Milky
Way (ca. 1577): "A hundred generations might write out what seemed the
meaning of the one, and they would write different meanings, for no
symbol tells all its meaning to any generation; but when you have
said, 'That woman there is Juno, and the milk out of her breast is
making the Milky Way,' you have told the meaning of the other, and the
fine painting, which has added so much irrelevant beauty, has not told
it better” (qtd in Harper).

More modern reviews of Tintoretto’s work seem to have equally
kind words, remarking that,"The style is spontaneous, and the
organization seems no less inspired. More intuitive Italian rational,
more interested in motion and impact than order and logic, his designs
aim to immerse us in their actions, involving us psychologically and
viscerally” (Hahn). In a rare example of coherency throughout the
ages, the works of this particular artist seem to be found as
inspiring and entrancing now as they were during the years shortly
after his career ended. It is probably a monument to the way
Tintoretto broke away from the conventional style of the renaissance
by taking part in the mannerist movement that his works stand so far
apart from those that are considered masters of the time while still
being considered masterful in their own right.

When I saw this piece I fell immediately in love with the
intricately rendered details and the way that Tintoretto has invited
us into the same space that Jesus occupies. The apostles and their
master sit at a table that seems to recede back into the shadowy room
of a simple inn. Servants go about their business in the foreground,
and the meal appears to be winding to a close. A single candle
illuminates the room, with the ghostly suggestion of angels projecting
from the flame to represent the presence of the holy ghost. Compared
to the usual paintings of the renaissance, Tintoretto’s style seems
more moving and realistic, as if he wanted to draw the viewer in with
the believability of the scene, then keep them there with all the
subtle iconography. There are a myriad of tiny details to engage the
eye, from the cat peeking into the tub of water that a servant girl
leans over, to the angels that seem to fade into the background,
emerging from the dusky woodwork.

In order to compare the Last Supper by Tintoretto with another
work of its time, there is only one piece that can be chosen. The Last
Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci is the obvious choice, although it almost
doesn’t seem fair to hold the rather plain fresco alongside
Tintoretto’s brilliantly rendered oil painting. Because these are both
images of the Last Supper parable, the best place for comparison would
be the actual representation of the story. Leonardo does a better job
of translating through arrangement and hidden iconography the spirit
of the story, while it is almost difficult to decipher what Tintoretto
is seeking to portray, because he has made Jesus and his followers
seem so human. However, the very humanity that Tintoretto has placed
into his painting is what makes it speak to the viewer. Certainly in
the sense of style and skill, Tintoretto has outclassed Leonardo.
Looking at Leonardo’s Last Supper, the image seems flat and almost
simplistic. There is less attention paid to the special proportions,
so while there is some recession of the room where Jesus and his
followers are feasting, the proportion seems uninteresting and does
not invite the eye to wander past the table and the men seated at it.
Certainly there are some strange and mysterious theories floating
around about the Leonardo copy, and what the artist was trying to say
with his arrangement, while Tintoretto’s version is more straight
forward and easier to decipher. However, if mystery is what makes a
piece of art great, then there is a monumental mystery in Tintoretto’s
decision not to specify Judas out of the apostles. There is no way to
specifically pinpoint which man is Judas, while in the Leonardo
fresco, each member of the dinner party has been identified.

Not only was Tintoretto an amazingly talented artist, he was also
a very prolific artist, painting somewhere around five hundred images
over the course of his life. This may not be as surprising knowing
that he did eight different versions of the Last Supper alone. Because
the breadth and body of his work is so great, selecting a specific
work to represent his skill is difficult. From the eight versions of
the Last Supper it is clear that Tintoretto himself was fascinated
with this story, and indeed, the story is what makes it such an
obvious choice to be preserved. For anyone not familiar with the
background of the Last Supper, it was the Passover meal during which
Jesus performed the right of transubstantiation – giving his followers
bread and wine which was then ‘transubstantiated’ into the body and
blood of Christ, allowing his followers to take in his spirit and
power – before being betrayed by Judas and taken to be crucified. The
Last Supper is the beginning of one of the world’s oldest tales of
betrayal, but where Leonardo chose to emphasis that aspect, making it
clear who each individual in his painting is, Tintoretto has chosen to
focus instead on the fellowship of the Passover without hinting at the
great betrayal that is about to take place. For the religious
overtones, the beauty and skill with which the painting was executed,
and the impact that Tintoretto had on the history and art of the
renaissance, this piece is of invaluable importance and should
absolutely be preserved for the future.

_______________Works Cited_______________

Hahn, Robert. "Motion, energy, and revelation: Tintoretto's Last
Suppers." TriQuarterly 126 (2006): 200+. Literature Resource Center.
Web. 9 Oct. 2011.

"Renaissance art and architecture." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia,
6th Edition (2010): 1. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 9 Oct. 2011.

"Tintoretto." Hutchinson's Biography Database (2011): 1. MAS Ultra -
School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 9 Oct. 2011.

Boucquey, Thierry, gen. ed. "humanism in the Renaissance."
Encyclopedia of World Writers, 14th through 18th Centuries. New York:
Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On
File, Inc. 9. Oct. 2011.

"Mannerism." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition (2010): 1.
MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 9 Oct. 2011.

Harper, George Mills. W. B. Yeats and W. T. Horton: A Record of an
Occult Friendship; Horton, W. T. A Book of Images; Yeats, W. B. The
Collected Letters of W. B. Yeats (vols. 2–3), Essays and
Introductions.

Heims, Neil. "Blake, William." In Bloom, Harold, ed. William Blake,
Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2005.
Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Hahn, Robert. "Tintoretto and the Truths of Incoherence." Raritan 26.4
(2007): 125-150. World History Collection. EBSCO. Web. 10 Oct. 2011.