Release Date: November 29, 2018

Venetian Printmakers Working in the Time of Tintoretto Explored at National Gallery of Art, March 24 through June 9, 2019

Agostino Carracci after Jacopo Tintoretto
Mercury and the Three Graces, 1589
engraving on laid paper
sheet: 20.2 x 25.7 cm (7 15/16 x 10 1/8 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

Washington, DC—In celebration of the 500th anniversary of Tintoretto's birth, Venetian Prints in the Time of Tintoretto reveals a critical source for the Renaissance master's artistic formation, parallel developments toward a distinctively Venetian mannerism, and other artists' vibrant responses to Tintoretto's distinctive style. Drawn principally from the Gallery's permanent collection, this exhibition will present some 30 prints—from exquisite etchings by followers of Parmigianino, to unprecedented pictorial engravings by Agostino Carracci, to the spectacular woodcuts of Giuseppe Scolari. Venetian Prints in the Time of Tintoretto can only be seen in Washington and is on view at the National Gallery of Art from March 24 through June 9, 2019.

Tintoretto 500

In celebration of the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Venetian Renaissance master Jacopo Tintoretto, the Gallery will present three exhibitions that explore the artist's own achievement as a painter and draftsman, as well as influences and innovations of other great printmakers in Venice in the 16th century. Coorganized with the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia with the special cooperation of the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice (March 24–July 7, 2019), the first retrospective of the artist in North America, will feature nearly 50 paintings and more than a dozen works on paper spanning the artist's entire career, ranging from regal portraits of Venetian aristocrats to religious and mythological narrative scenes. Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice (March 24–june 9, 2019) offers new ideas about his artistic evolution, working procedure, and workshop practice in approximately 80 of the finest examples from some two dozen public and private collections. The exhibition is organized by the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, where it is on view through January 6, 2019. Venetian Prints in the Time of Tintoretto (March 24–June 9, 2019) will present some 30 prints, from critical sources for Tintoretto's artistic formation to striking graphic responses to the expressiveness of Tintoretto's style. Drawn principally from the Gallery's permanent collection, this exhibition can only be seen in Washington and includes etchings by Schiavone, superb engravings by Agostino Carracci, and Giuseppe Scolari's extraordinary woodcuts.

Exhibition Organization and Support

The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

About the Exhibition

Although he never put his own hand to the printmaking medium, Tintoretto in his youth drew critical inspiration from the Venetian school's most experimental prints—above all, the restless and vibrant etchings of Schiavone. In its combination of traditional Venetian tendencies and mannerism, Tintoretto's mature style found substantial parallels in the work of etchers such as Battista Franco and Giulio Sanuto, whose works are on view in this exhibition.

Venetian Prints in the Time of Tintoretto expands the understanding of Tintoretto's style, through a presentation of prints ranging from critical sources for Tintoretto's artistic formation to striking graphic responses to the expressiveness of his style. Through 30 choice impressions, principally from the Gallery's collection, this exhibition introduces these phenomena with highlights that include etchings by Schiavone, superb engravings by Agostino Carracci, and Scolari's extraordinary woodcuts.

In the 1580s, a reciprocal stylistic exchange with the Carracci family in Bologna prompted Tintoretto to engage Agostino Carracci to create what are still considered the most spectacular engravings after his compositions, notably the five-foot-wide interpretation of the monumental Crucifixion in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. And by the 1590s, amid etchers conditioned by Tintoretto's drawings, Giuseppe Scolari created large-scale woodcuts, such as The Rape of Proserpina (1590/1607), that evoke the dynamism and intensity of Tintoretto's paintings.

Exhibition Curator

The exhibition is curated by Jonathan Bober, Andrew W. Mellon Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art.

Related Activities for Tintoretto 500

Concert
Parthenia with Ryland Angel, countertenor
March 17, 3:30 p.m.
West Building, West Garden Court

Lecture
Introduction to the Exhibition—Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice
March 24, 2:00 p.m.
East Building Auditorium
Robert Echols, independent scholar, and Frederick Ilchman, chair of the Art of Europe department and Mrs. Russell W. Baker Curator of Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
A signing of the exhibition catalog follows.

Press Contact:
Laurie Tylec, (202) 842-6355 or [email protected]