Domenico Tintoretto

[1] At age 17, he became a member of the Venetian painter's guild and, to further his training, worked alongside his father executing paintings in the Doge's Palace in Venice.

Other commissioned portraits include the Duchess Margarita, the widow of Duke Alfonso II of Ferrara, the Doge Pasquale Cicogna, Doge Marino Grimani, Marcantonio Memmo, Giovanni Bembo, Luigi d'Este, the Count d’Aron and Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua.

According to Carlo Ridolfi and the evidence of surviving portraits such as that of Sir John Finet, future Master of Ceremonies to Charles I, he painted many English visitors to Venice, including the Collector Earl of Arundel and his wife and children.

When Jacopo died in 1594, Domenico handily took over the running of the studio of Tintoretto, with the help of his younger brother Marco, and his assistant Bastian Casser.

In this portrait, Domenico goes beyond rendering physical likeness and social status and achieves the Renaissance ideal of capturing the individuality of the sitter, an accomplishment that places him in the tradition of Rembrandt, Velasquez or Titian.

In Domenico's youth, he devoted some time to the study of literature which would inform his poetical, historical and moral themes.