Marietta Robusti Tintoretto
Marietta Robusti Tintoretto (1554-1590) was an Italian painter from Venice, renowned as the daughter of the famous artist Jacopo Robusti, known as Tintoretto. Growing up in a family of artists, Marietta received her training in her father's workshop, a common path for women artists of her time due to societal constraints. She stood out as a talented portraitist, often referred to as La Tintoretto, as her style closely resembled her father's, and she contributed significantly to his projects. Although she never gained the opportunity for large commissions typical of male artists, her works include a self-portrait and portraits attributed to her, underscoring her skills and the recognition she garnered.
Marietta married a local jeweler to maintain access to her father's studio, which was integral to her artistic development. Her life was tragically cut short when she died during childbirth at the age of thirty. Historians regard her as a pivotal figure in her father's workshop, yet her legacy is complicated by the limited documentation of her work and the constraints placed on women artists in the late Renaissance. Despite these challenges, her artistry and contributions remain a significant part of her family's artistic heritage.
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Subject Terms
Marietta Robusti Tintoretto
Italian painter
- Born: c. 1554
- Birthplace: Venice, Republic of Venice (now in Italy)
- Died: c. 1590
- Place of death: Venice, Republic of Venice (now in Italy)
Tintoretto is one of the few women painters to emerge in the late sixteenth century. She was known as a portrait painter who also assisted her father, the painter Jacopo Tintoretto, with his commissions.
Early Life
Marietta Robusti Tintoretto (teen-toh-RAYT-toh) learned painting in her father’s workshop. This training was like a number of her female contemporaries, who studied in their family studios, such as Lavinia Fontana. Given the gender restrictions of guild practice and late Renaissance society, this familial instruction was the only way women could develop their artistic talents.
Marietta was the child of the famous Venetian painter Jacopo Robusti, known as Tintoretto. She was the eldest of eight children, which included her painter brothers Domenico (1560-1635) and Marco (1561-1637). She was apparently her father’s favorite, at least until her younger brothers matured, and he personally oversaw much of her education. Tintoretto not only taught her to paint but also, according to the seventeenth century biographer of Venetian artists Carlo Ridolfi, had her dress as a boy to accompany him to his many projects. She was frequently at his side and thus learned a great deal more than strict studio training could have given her. Marietta also assisted him on many of his projects. Tintoretto arranged her marriage to a local jeweler, Mario Augusto, so she could continue to have access to his studio and her work there.
Life’s Work
Marietta never received large commissions of frescoes or altar panels but instead engaged herself as a portraitist. This apparently was the limiting genre for artists of her gender in the late Renaissance. It is thought that Marietta’s painting technique was almost indistinguishable from her father’s, and she was given the name La Tintoretto in honor of this fact. It is believed that, in most working studios at the time, the hands of many talented assistants were involved in paintings attributed to the master artist. Historians speculate that Marietta’s contributions to her father’s studio and work were significant.
A single Self-Portrait in the Uffizi, Florence, is the only painting that can be assigned to Marietta Tintoretto with certainty. However, Portrait of Two Men , in Dresden, Germany originally considered one of her father’s best was found to have the initials “MR” (Marietta Robusti) and is the only known work signed by her. Three other portraits in the Prado in Madrid, Spain are also attributed to her, one of which is thought to be a self-portrait.
The location of the portraits in Spain helps confirm Ridolfi’s report that Emperor Maximilian II and Philip II of Spain expressed interest in her paintings. Some historians suggest that both rulers invited her to paint at their courts. She either refused in order to stay close to her father and home studio or was not allowed to go by her father, who wanted her close to him. Although Marietta’s hand is thought to be evident in her father’s painting of 1578, St. Agnes Reviving Licinio, in Santa Maria dell’ Orto, this is largely speculative. Two drawings in a private collection in Milan have also been attributed to her.
La Tintoretto died during childbirth at the age of thirty, around 1590. Some claim that her father’s grief over her death hastened his death a few years later. Her loss would have been keenly felt since not only did she die young, but she also was an exceptional painter in a family of famous artists, and she was a gifted musician and singer.
Significance
Marietta’s short life, lack of major commissions, a brief career possibly inhibited by marriage and certainly inhibited by the status of women in the late Renaissance, and no secure paintings have resulted in a speculative corpus of fewer than six works. However, many believe that she was a major factor in the quality and quantity of work produced in her father’s studio and name.
Details of Marietta’s life remain obscure, and the few examples of paintings associated with her are not well documented. She never claimed the success of her contemporary among women painters in Italy, Sofonisba Anguissola , or of her successor Artemesia Gentileschi (1593-1652/1653), both of whom received commissions for altar panels and whose independent activities extended beyond portraiture. Marietta pre-deceased her father and, thus, was unable to inherit his studio with her brothers Domenico and Marco, who continued Tintoretto’s shop for four more decades after his death.
Bibliography
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 3d ed. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2002. A popular reference book that includes several pages on La Tintoretto.
Jacopo Tintoretto, Portraits. Milan, Italy: Electa, 1994. An exhibition catalog with entries and essays on forty-one portraits and self-portraits displayed at the Accademia, Venice, touching peripherally on Marietta.
Krischel, Roland. Jacopo Tintoretto, 1519-1594. Translated by Anthea Bell. Cologne, Germany: Könemann, 2000. A study on Tintoretto that includes references to Marietta. Bibliographical references.
Nichols, Tom. Tintoretto, Tradition, and Identity. London: Reaktion Books, 1999. A comprehensive study of the artist’s life, career, and major paintings, with reference to Marietta.
Ridolfi, Carlo. The Life of Tintoretto, and of His Children Domenico and Marietta. Translated and introduced by Catherine Enggass and Robert Enggass. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1984. A translation of volume 2 of Ridolfi’s 1642 classic work. Ridolfi, the preeminent art historian of his day, provides an account from a time nearly contemporaneous with that of his subjects.
Rosand, David. Painting in Sixteenth-Century Venice: Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto. Rev. ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. A standard study on late Renaissance Italian and specifically Venetian painting. Provides a good background to the historical and social situations of artists. Includes plates, extensive bibliography, and index.