It was not until he was thirty years old that he received a commission to paint in the Ducal Palace in Venice--the desire of his heart. Hard times were then over for him. He married Faustina de’Vescovi, the daughter of a Venetian nobleman. She was a careful housewife and an excellent companion for her impetuous husband.
The next important event in Tintoretto’s life was the decoration of the Scuola di St. Marco. This was in 1560. About thirty years later he did the crowning production of his life. This was the huge “Paradise.” It is seventy-four feet by thirty feet, and is said to be the largest painting ever done upon canvas.
After the completion of this picture Tintoretto rested for awhile. Thereafter he never undertook any work of importance. In 1594 he was seized with an attack of sickness, and he died on May 31.
His daughter, Marietta, was also a portrait painter of some note. She died at the age of thirty, and Tintoretto grieved for her greatly. It is said that he painted her portrait as she lay dead.
Tintoretto hardly ever traveled out of Venice. He liked music, and as a youth played the lute and other instruments, some of which he invented himself. He liked to design theatrical costumes. He was an agreeable companion, but as he was a hard worker he lived a rather retired life, hardly admitting any, even his intimate friends, to his presence.
It is said that when the artist left the house his wife wrapped up money for him in a handkerchief. On his return she made him tell how it had been spent.
There are a number of Tintoretto’s works in England, among them being the spirited work “St. George and the Dragon.” He had few pupils.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 4, SERIAL No. 104 COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
Monograph Number Five in The Mentor Reading Course
One of the most famous of the “Little Masters” of Holland was Gerard Ter Borch, or Terburg, as he is sometimes called. This artist, whose pictures are always full of color, loved to paint brilliant cloths and dazzling jewelry. His paintings are pictures pure and simple.
Ter Borch was born at Zwolle, Holland, in 1617. His father, who was also an artist, gave him a good education and developed the youth’s talent very early. The boy evidently was in Amsterdam in 1632, studying under C. Duyster or possibly P. Codde. Duyster’s influence can be traced in a picture bearing the date of 1638. Before this picture was painted, however, in 1634, he studied under Pieter Molyn in Haarlem.