Finding of the Body of Saint Mark (Discovery of the Body of Saint Mark)

Tommaso Rangone, a Venetian patron, commissioned Tintoretto to create a painting cycle that depicted multiple episodes of St.Mark's life. The cycle follows the story of St.Mark's body and how it was found in the city of Alexandria and then returned to the city of Venice.  One of the paintings included in the cycle shows the discovery of Saint Mark's body in Alexandria, Egypt and is known as Finding of the Body of Saint Mark.  The painting was orignally displayed in the Scuola Grande di San Marco, but it now resides in the Brera Museum of Milan.

The first thing that viewer's eyes are drawn to is the larger than life man on the left hand side of the painting.  He is clothed in blue and light red cloth, with one arm on his hip and one outstretched towards the center of the painting.  The cloth that this man is adorned in has been studied by historians and has revealed Tintoretto's technique when achieving perfect coloration.[1] The halo around the man's head allows the audience to determine that this is Saint Mark.  As the viewer begins to move around the painting, various figures can be seen strewn across the painting, posed in dramatic position. A seemingly dead body with grey and white skin can be seen lying at the feet of Saint Mark.  Kneeling next to the body is a man with grey hair and a beard.  He is adorned in a shimmering orange cloak that flows in the traditional Renaissance style.  The man, has been identified as  Tommaso Rangone, the commissioner of the painting.  Four men on the right side of the painting are pulling the body of Saint Mark out of the tomb and lowering it carefully with a sheet.  The men are all dressed in shades of red, brown and black that Tintoretto uses to complement the dark color pallete.  Towards the bottom of the painting, a small altercation can be seen on the right side. A faceless-man wearing all black is being restrained from a woman dressed in salmon and white.  The man restraining the attacker is partially shirtless revealing a carefully porportioned body.  The meticulous details on the man show that Tintoretto had an interest in the human body.  The background of the painting is truly amazing because of how intricate it is and because of the extra information that it gives us about the painting.  For one, the background of the painting is not in Alexandria, but rather the Procuratie in Venice. [2] Tintoretto may have changed the setting to glorify the city of Venice.  Furthermore, the lines of the tile flooring are fading, which has allowed scholars to determine that the background was created before the figures.  Tintoretto did this so that he could set the stage for his characters and then position them correctly.[3]  This unique painting deals with the subject of religion while also glorifying the city of Venice's architecture and its patron saint. 

[1]Osticioli, I., Pagliai, M., Comelli, D., Schettino, V., & Nevin, A. (2019, June 13). Red lakes from Leonardo's Last Supper and other Old Master Paintings: Micro-Raman spectroscopy of anthraquinone pigments in paint cross-sections.
[2]Levey, M. (1965). TINTORETTO AND THE THEME OF MIRACULOUS INTERVENTION. Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, 113(5109), 714. 
[3]Pham, V. K. (1995). Theatricality in Tintoretto's religious paintings (Master's thesis, Montréal, McGill Univ., Magisterarb, 1995) (pp. 25)

Jacopo Tintoretto

References

Levey, M. (1965). TINTORETTO AND THE THEME OF MIRACULOUS INTERVENTION. Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, 113(5109), 707-725. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41367901
Osticioli, I., Pagliai, M., Comelli, D., Schettino, V., & Nevin, A. (2019, June 13). Red lakes from Leonardo's Last Supper and other Old Master Paintings: Micro-Raman spectroscopy of anthraquinone pigments in paint cross-sections. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1386142519306638
Pham, V. K. (1995). Theatricality in Tintoretto's religious paintings (Master's thesis, Montréal, McGill Univ., Magisterarb, 1995) (pp. 25-26). McGill University.
Tintoretto, J. (1562-66). Finding of the Body of Saint Mark (Discovery of the Body of Saint Mark) [Painting found in Brera Pinacoteca, Milan, Italy]. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/SCALA_ARCHIVES_1039779478

Tommaso Rangone
Jacopo Tintoretto. 1562-66. Finding of the Body of Saint Mark (Discovery of the Body of Saint Mark). painting. Place: Pinacoteca di Brera. https://library.artstor.org/asset/SCALA_ARCHIVES_1039779478.

1562 - 6

Darien Sansosti

(c) 2006, SCALA, Florence / ART RESOURCE, N.Y.

396 x 400 cm

painting; oil on canvas

Brera Pinacoteca; Milan, Italy