Art, faith and medicine in Tintoretto's Venice

Abstract

"Five hundred years after his birth, Venice celebrates the artistic achievements and era of Jacopo Tintoretto. The success of Jacopo and his son Domenico is inextricably linked to the Scuola Grande di San Marco. Indeed, Jacopo created some of the most famous paintings in 16th-century Venetian art for the Scuola's chapter hall. Thanks to Domenico's contribution, the ensemble commenced by his father was the most gradiose cycle devoted to the patron saint of Venice since the decoration of Saint Mark's Basilica. Founded in 1260-21 as a flagellant congregation, the Scuola became a charitable institution that, among other aims, provided medical care for the poorest of its members. After its suppression in 1806, the Scuola housed the Venice City Hospital until the mid-20th century, when it was turned into a library with 18,000 medical and scientific volumes. This book offers the reader an unprecendented and fascinating glimpse of life in Tintoretto's Venice. Analyzing the themes of the exhibition in depth, the catalogue explores the relation between devotional activities, medical practices, anatomical studies and images of the human body by examining a wide range of period sources, including paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, musical scores, illustrated books, engravings, printing plates and surgical instruments."

Contents

Investment in charity : the welfare activities of the Scuola Grande di San Marco in the sixteenth century / Paola Benussi -- Tommaso Giannotti Rangone: a life modeled on books and (not just medical) art / Sabrina Minuzzi -- 'When God's Majesty Publicly Scourges a People': combating plague in sixteenth-century Venice / Michelle Laughran -- Domenico Tintoretto and the 1630-31 plague / Jennifer Gear -- Animating the body : the roles and reasons for anatomical study in the Renaissance / Cynthia Klestinec -- Domenico Tintoretto's life-drawing: anatomy of an artistic reform / Gabriele Matino -- Learned hands: skills, experience, and knowledge in sixteenth-century surgery / Paola Savoia -- Bookish anatomies : the medical manual in the first century of printing / Ilaria Andreoli -- Chronology / Gabriel Matino