Jacopo Tintoretto, Paradise, 1588 - 1592
This was Tintoretto's last great work, an immense painting on canvas, perhaps the largest ever, painted for the Consiglio Maggiore in the Palazzo Ducale in Venice. In this room, senators, committees, and office-holders for the Venetian Republic were elected by the ruling mercantile oligarchy. Christ in this painting wears the red robe of a Venetian senator. Tintoretto was in his 70s and in ill health when he painted this. He had a lot of help from his family, especially from his son Domenico, and his talented daughter Marietta (very unusual for the time). Critics usually praise the surviving oil sketches for this painting (rightly so) and pan the final painting. I saw this painting 25 years ago and I remember thinking it was a spectacular finale for a career full of spectacular paintings (most of which can still be seen in Venice in their original places).
Titian, The Trinity in Glory, 1554
Albecht Dürer, The Landauer Altarpiece, 1511
I know some people don't like this picture, but I love it; the handling of the composition and the coloring in this picture is magnificent, and I love the sentiment behind it.
Simone Martini, Maesta, from the Palazzo Publico in Siena, 1315
As for my roll call of the saints, I don't think I'd change much the one I wrote in 2011.
Maybe I might expand it a little.
1 comment:
Knowing my Byzantine tastes, the Martini is from the tail end of Western Christian art I like (until we get to the Modern period!).
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