Tintoretto’s Last Supper is a painting located in the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice Italy.  It was painted in 1592-1594 by Tintoretto and depicts Jesus’s last supper with his 12 disciples.  Commissioned by the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, studio needed the help of his coworkers to produce works in the requested amount of time.  This is one of the few he painted entirely himself.  As churches attempted to attract visitors, they commissioned the production of many paintings and bought relics.  Tintoretto’s Last Supper is one of many paintings commissioned with the intent of attracting tourism.<!--more-->

Tintoretto’s Last Supper is typical of its era because it was a painting commissioned by a church depicting a biblical scene.  The Last Supper was a popular topic at the time.  Da Vinci’s is the most well known and was painted about 40 years before the Tintoretto.  The way the table is set up provides a linear perspective of everyone just as Michelangelo’s last supper does.  This work also incorporates beings of a greater and lesser meaning.  For example, the angels float near the ceiling like ghosts and the servers are left in the dark serving Jesus and his disciples.  This work is typical of its time period because it was commissioned by a church and the medium is oil based paint – the most common type of paint.  Tintoretto was a Venetian renaissance school member.  This is characterized by extensive use of light and color for vivid energetic paintings.

Tintoretto’s final Last Supper was well received but instantly received comparisons and even criticism from art critics who had visited the Santa Marie Monastery in Milan and seen the Da Vinci version.  Tintoretto wasn’t well liked in the art world.  The way he went about his work made him a mercenary of art.  He was notorious for trying to save money for himself by using the least amount of materials possible.  This probably hurt the reviews he received from other artists.  He was, however, commissioned to paint many of these last supper works. They became more evolved as he continued painting them but many of this Last Supper’s predecessors are now lost.  Nevertheless it is easy to see that a great deal of practice was necessary to achieve the impressive use of shadow and light to achieve the illusion of motion found in his work.

At the time, churches were competing for tourism.  They tried to pick up new visitors by advertising the housing of valuable relics and commissioning extravagant works of art.  The paying of indulgences to churches to save a soul from hell or purgatory became common practice in the Catholic religion.  While it was a result of greed and corruption in the church, these indulgences fueled the commissioning of many well-known works of art.  This is one example, among countless others, of a church attempting to attract visitors who would pay indulgences.  It was not until Martin Luther wrote and publicized his 95 Theses criticizing the Catholic church for its corruption, that a real movement began to end the sale of indulgences, and unfortunately the rapid advances made in the art world.

People probably compared it to Michelangelo’s last supper as soon as they knew the subject matter.  It was painted about 40 years after the Michelangelo version, so it’s only natural that it was compared to its predecessor.  Those with an extensive knowledge of art at the time would have been the only ones able to compare it to the Da Vinci because without media to spread the images of both, people would not have been able to easily view both and compare them.  There are various similarities and striking differences in the styles of Da Vinci and Tintoretto.  To the casual observer (like myself) the Tintoretto is darker and more elaborate than the relatively bright and open Da Vinci piece.  The way Tintoretto manipulated light and shadow to emphasize motion contrasts with the work Da Vinci put into the apostles’ body language to show their motion. They both portray the 12 apostles and isolate Judas from the bunch.  Da Vinci separates Judas by not including him in the conversations between apostles.  He is somewhat separated physically, but it’s easy to see how he isn’t being included in their conversation.  Tintoretto takes this isolation even further by fully separating Judas physically and spiritually. Tintoretto positioned him on the opposite side of the table as Jesus and the other apostles, and abstained from putting a halo of light around Judas’s head.  It is clear that Judas has been singled out from the others, I had to google which figure he was because he is so obscure.  It’s interesting to see the same scene depicted in two completely different styles.  I feel like I know the artists better after seeing their takes on a biblical scene.

People today are likely to appreciate Tintoretto’s last supper for its own artistic merits because they are familiar with the Da Vinci version.  Unfortunately, the Da Vinci is so well known that it’s hard to see the Tintoretto as unique.  Because they depict the same event and the artists had different styles, the first thing one wants to do upon seeing the Tintoretto is compare it the Da Vinci.  However, there are interesting aspects to the Tintoretto that connoisseurs of art may notice and appreciate.  For example, the Venetian renaissance school of which Tintoretto was a member, taught the use of light and color to portray events with motion and deep space.  The many variations in color light and texture are foreshadowers to impressionism.  Impressionism is unique for its emphasis on the accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities and its inclusion of motion as a crucial element.  While most people today aren’t familiar enough with styles of art to recognize the similarities between this and other impressionism works, it is definitely there.

Personally, I think it’s pretty dark. Da Vinci’s Last Supper is well lit and inviting.  The Tintoretto allows for Jesus and his disciples to appear enlightened by including light sparingly.  The effect is dark and I’m impressed by the effort Tintoretto put into the secondary characters that don’t necessarily need to be elaborated on.  He put serious time and effort into their activities to ensure that they appeared human in contrast to the angels milling around the ceiling.  I also am impressed by how detailed each aspect of the painting is.  Individual paint strokes of similar colors were needed to create the effect of light on clothing.  He also used this painstakingly detailed method of painting to produce texture in his work.  The thought and detail required to produce such an effect definitely warrants recognition.  If the work were entirely dark or light, the effect of such shading and implementation of light would be wasted.  However this piece, with its angels halos and lamp, has multiple of light sources.  He uses all of these to the fullest, creating a dynamic event.  The disciples are all having animated conversations and the illusion of their movement is magnified my Tintoretto’s mastery of light and color.  The angels pressing down from the heavens bring a whole new side to the work.  They appear to be made of light but are too light and vaporous to be human.  The rest of the spectators in the room are very human, they can barely believe what’s going on. Tintoretto spared no attention to detail.

While Tintoretto’s Last Supper is overshadowed by that of Da Vinci, it should be recognized for its unique use of shadow and color to emphasize motion.  His style of art was a precursor to impressionism, a style of art we have been exposed to.

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Works Cited

Gurley, Robert. "A Comparison of Da Vinci and Tintoretto's Last Supper Paintings." Suite

101 (2010): 1. Web. 9 Apr 2011. &lt;http://www.suite101.com/content/a-comparison-of-da-vinci-and-tintorettos-last-supper-paintings-a276625&gt;.

Nichols, Tom. Tintoretto: Tradition and Identity. 1st. 1. London: Reaktion, 1999. 200-256. Print.

Unkown, . "Tintoretto - The Last Supper." Old and Sold (1900): 1. Web. 11 Apr 2011.

&lt;http://www.oldandsold.com/articles12/paintings-66.shtml&gt;.

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