Three Tintoretto's in Venice Biennale

GUARDIAN
By Jonathon Jones

"The Last Supper" (1592-94) By Tintoretto

ITALY - Jacopo Robusti, or Tintoretto, is to receive a signal honour for a 16th-century artist. Tintoretto, who died in 1594, has been selected for this year's Venice Biennale. A handful of his dazzling masterpieces, perhaps the most sublime of all being The Stealing of the Dead Body of St Mark that normally hangs in the Accademia Gallery in Venice, will be shown among the crowd of contemporary artists in the famous festival of new art. Why Tintoretto? He is modern, say the organisers. He breaks the rules. He is a reminder to young artists that they, too, should break the rules. Tintoretto creates atmospheres that are enclosed and unreal. His light leads inward, to a realm of spiritual meditation. Tintoretto was a genuinely pious man, in the age of the Counter-Reformation when Italy abounded in new religious energy. [link]