But though Holbein was dead, his works lived on. They are known and valued today as those of few other artists. He belongs among the immortals of German art.
His portrait of the “Duchess of Milan” is a marvel of beauty in its exquisite simplicity of rendering. “Both paint and painter are forgotten in looking at a work like this; you see only the incarnate spirit, and feel its very sphere. Though the woman is really not beautiful, her expression is fascinating in the highest degree. The rich brown eyes, with the yellow ring immediately around the pupil, seem to admit you to the secrets of her thoughts, and the full pouting lips irresistibly command admiration.”
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.
SAINT GEORGE AND THE DRAGON. BY TINTORETTO]
Monograph Number Four in The Mentor Reading Course
Tintoretto was called by his contemporaries “Il Furioso,” or “the furious.” This was because of the passionate, fiery style which marked his work.
His real name was Jacopo Robusti. He received his nickname from the fact that his father was a dyer, or Tintore. Jacopo used to help him, and so they called him Tintoretto, or “little dyer.”
He was born in Venice in 1518. Even as a child he daubed pictures on the walls of his father’s dye house. His father soon noticed this, and took him around to the studio of Titian, to see if he could be trained as an artist. The famous old painter agreed to attempt it, but Jacopo had only been ten days in the studio when Titian sent him home for good. It is said that the great master did this out of jealousy, believing that the boy might become his rival. However, it may be fairer to presume that Titian really did not think that the young dyer would ever become an artist. It is a well-known fact, however, that Titian was a bad teacher.
Then Tintoretto began studying for himself. He obtained small copies of Michelangelo’s sculptures and drew from them as models. He worked night and day at this.
Many disappointments blocked his path. Titian dictated the public work among the painters of Venice, and he invariably passed by Tintoretto. Therefore, the young artist in order to make himself known, undertook to do great works without pay. He neglected no order, however humble, and he chose his subjects from all sources.