Wine turns to vinegar. The Renaissance, as a coherent historical period, ends with the fall of Rome in 1527, when, with the tacit consent of Charles V of Habsburg, the Eternal City is given over to the plunder of mercenary Landsknechts… The Counter-Reformation triumphs in Southern Europe. The general sense of crisis results in a “nervous” art of artificial colors and jagged lines—Mannerism.
Renaissance ideals now seem naive and idealistic, and harmony and balance are replaced by compositions overloaded with color and objects. Perfect “antique” figures become disproportionate, elongated, and serpentine. Poses are tense and exaggerated, lines are ornate and jagged. Artists either oversaturate their canvases with eroticism or retreat into asceticism. Artists no longer “negotiate” with the heavens; they employ metaphor, grotesque, symbolism, and allegory. Thus, art responds to the deformation of worldviews and social norms.
Jacopo Robusti entered the Venetian art scene at a critical moment.
His work displays equal parts cold calculation and mastery. He was called a “fine-arts dealer.” However, had Titian lived just a little shorter, Tintoretto would have been Venice’s greatest artist—the name by which he will go down in the history of painting.
Above his door he hangs the following slogan:
Drawing by Michelangelo, coloring by Titian
Tintoretto seems to be declaring: I combine in myself two outstanding schools of modernity – the Florentine and the Venetian.
This is what he will write Jean-Paul Sartre in his unfinished monograph about the artist:
In 16th-century Italy, faith still burned in the hearts of artists, their eyes and hands fighting atheism. But inside Tintoretto, there was a dizzying emptiness. Art without God—an eerie, sinister, gloomy art, a dark, icy wind piercing a heart pitted with holes.
And here is an American art historian and art critic Bernard Berenson will express himself completely differently:
Poetry and religion were close to Tintoretto not because of Greco-Roman traditions or church dictates, but because he needed them both personally, like everyone else. They made him forget the selfish cruelty of life, supported him in his work, and consoled him in disappointment. Religion was the answer to the eternal need for love and faith in the human heart… Therefore, Tintoretto unhesitatingly transformed every biblical legend into a painting that seemed as real as if it were an episode borrowed from life, unfolding before his eyes and imbued with his own personal mood.
Now let’s try to “enter” the picture.
…We find ourselves in an awkward position. Yes, yes, we are involuntarily peeping. And we are unable to take our eyes off this beautiful woman. And Susanna is about to see us. Look into the mirror in the painting – your eyes will meet hers. And she will smile slyly in return. Tintoretto was a master of such tricks.
The biblical story of the pious Susanna is a wonderful opportunity for the artist to showcase the beauty of the female body through bold drawing, a painterly distribution of light and shadow, warm and silvery tones, and a broad brushstroke. This may not yet be “a la prima,” but it is also no longer a technique that requires weeks of waiting between approaches and layers. Jacopo uses a signature painting method known as “prestezza” (speed, rapidity, agility). This method involves quick, sometimes noticeable brushstrokes and consists of only three stages. First, the artist applies a base layer of color, which will become the painting’s coloristic foundation. Then, he applies an underpainting, usually in white, and then begins the final work.
But we are not alone in this garden. The bather is being watched by wicked elders, unaware of each other’s presence. Their intentions are eloquently conveyed by the goat depicted in the left corner of the painting—a symbol of lust. Only the garden fence separates the woman from the impending disaster. The drama of the composition is emphasized by the elongated proportions of Susanna’s body, the tense poses of the elders, the bizarre lighting, and the contrasts of bright and cool tones.
Susanna will angrily reject the advances of the voluptuaries and be slandered for it. The elders will accuse her of adultery. It’s no wonder Tintoretto depicted a gossiping magpie above her.
But a savior will be found. A young man named Daniel will expose the elders. He will ask each of them under which tree in the garden they saw the beautiful bather. And the elders will be “confused in their testimony.” We see these trees in the depths of the garden, where the light of hope for justice shines through the shadows.
Shall we move on to the next room? We’ll have plenty to talk about…