The conservation of Tintoretto’s Crucifixion has been made possible thanks to the generous support of Arnold M. Bernstein.

Tintoretto’s Crucifixion is considered one of the great masterpieces of Renaissance art in Venice, perhaps second only to Titian’s Assunta, if indeed second. Measuring more than 5 meters in height and 12 in width, this enormous canvas sits above the banco, the counter behind which the officials of the confraternity sat. The picture was completed in 1565, the same year that Tintoretto became a member of the Scuola. By the time he was commissioned the Crucifixion, Tintoretto had already painted Saint Roch Healing the Plague-Stricken (1549) and Christ at the Pool of Bethesda (1559) for the confraternity church and decorated the ceiling of the Scuola’s boardroom (1564), part of which was treated with partial sponsorship by Save Venice between 2008-2009. On 9 March 1565, Tintoretto received a final payment of 250 ducats for his Crucifixion. That very year, he signed the canvas at the lower left: “1565. At the time of magnificent Girolamo Rota and brothers. Jacopo Tintorectus.” The dedicatory inscription stresses the pivotal role played by Girolamo Rota, the chief official of the Scuola and Tintoretto’s powerful supporter.

Tintoretto must have produced dozens of figural studies before settling on a composition. An impressive example is a study of one of the mourning women at the foot of the cross (Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence), in which the painter focuses on the drapery and its convoluted folds, but also on the structure of the twisting body underneath it. Another interesting sketch at the Museum Boijman van Beuningen, Rotterdam, studies a male figure leaning down to the left and was probably made in preparation for the man that bends down from the ladder to dip the sponge in the vinegar.

Scientific analysis carried out during the last conservation treatment of the painting (1972) shows that Tintoretto outlined the composition directly on the canvas, drawing at first nude figures over which he then layered painted draperies. Extant unfinished paintings (e.g. the Holy Family with Young Saint John the Baptist, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven) confirm that such an artistic process was by no means unusual for Tintoretto; indeed, even his son Domenico was taught the very same creative process, as his Fidelity at the Harvard Art Museum proves.

To articulate such an enormous and vast composition, Tintoretto drew inspiration from his Crucifixion in the Accademia Galleries—a painting originally made for the Scuola del Sacramento in the Venetian church of San Severo and restored by Save Venice in 2018. Indeed, the influence of the San Severo painting is evident in the centralized figure of Christ, in the mourning group underneath him, in the dicing soldiers, and in the figures on horseback on the sides. Nevertheless, at the Scuola di San Rocco Tintoretto succeeded in making the composition less chaotic by isolating Christ at the upper edge of the painting, and by clearing up the foreground for the many, distinct narrative events that appear to take place simultaneously. These events—each one carefully defined by spatial intervals—include the soldiers casting lots to divide Christ’s clothing, the mockery of Christ, the offering of the vinegar-soaked sponge, and the fainting of the Virgin Mary.

Two additional episodes are worth discussing. On the right-hand side, the Bad Thief is still on the ground, his back turned to Christ, his fate already decided as the Crucifixion will soon end in his death. On the opposite side, the Good Thief is being raised on his cross while he stares at Christ, thus fulfilling the Lord’s prophecy: “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself” (John 12:32). Scholars have suggested that Tintoretto, similar to the representation of the Last Judgement, divided the composition into two parts—to Christ’s left the unfaithful, to his right those open to the Revelation. Accordingly, the roman centurion on a white horse to Christ’s right is believed to be a disguised portrait of Girolamo Rota, the Scuola chief official who commissioned the painting from Tintoretto.

The conservation treatment of Tintoretto’s Crucifixion has been conducted on-site in the Sala dell’Albergo of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. To enhance the visitor experience, a reproduction of the painting was installed to cover part of the lower level of the scaffolding’s front, and a video was produced to showcase the various phases of the conservation process.

In early 2023, the CBC firm performed a non-invasive analysis of the painting, including UV and infrared photography, to identify issues and areas of damage. Building on these findings, conservators began work in the spring of 2023 to address condition problems. Their efforts have encompassed the removal of non-original surface layers—including grime, aged varnishes, overpainting, and retouching from previous restorations—as well as the inpainting of areas with pictorial losses. The conservation campaign is scheduled for completion in late spring 2025.

Jacopo Tintoretto (c. 1518/19–1594)
Crucifixion
1565, oil on canvas
536 x 1224 cm

Scuola Grande di San Rocco: Homepage
Scuola Grande di San Rocco: Link to the Work

Echols, Robert and Frederick Ilchmann, eds. Tintoretto 1519-1594. Venice: Marsilio, 2018

Marciari, John. Drawing in Tintoretto’s Venice. New York: The Morgan Library & Museum, 2018

Massimi, Maria Elena. “Jacopo Tintoretto e i confratelli della Scuola Grande di San Rocco. Strategie culturali e committenza artistica.” Venezia Cinquecento, 9 (1995): 5-169

Nichols, Tom. Tintoretto: Tradition and Identity. London: Reaktion Books, 1999

Pallucchini, Rodolfo and Paola Rossi. Tintoretto. Le opere sacre e profane. Milan: Electa, 1982