Domenico Tintoretto (Venice 1560-1635)

Portrait of Giovanni Paolo Contarini, three-quarter length, in a red ermine-lined robe

Details

Domenico Tintoretto (Venice 1560-1635)
Portrait of Giovanni Paolo Contarini, three-quarter length, in a red ermine-lined robe
inscribed 'MDXCIIII IOAN PAVL COTARE. PROC.' (upper right)
oil on canvas
44 3/8 x 34 in. (112.7 x 86.4 cm.)

Provenance

with Arthur Seligman, Rey & Co., New York, 1936, as J. Tintoretto. Private collection, Bavaria.
with Knoedler, New York.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 3 June 1988, lot 63, as Jacopo Tintoretto.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 12 January 1996, as Jacopo Tintoretto ($90,500; sold after the sale).

Literature

Art News, XXXIV, 1936, illustrated.

Exhibited

New York, Knoedler, Venetian Painting of the 16th-17th Centuries, 1938, no. 17.
San Francisco, Palace of the Legion of Honor, Venetian Paintings from the 15th to 18th Centuries, 25 June-24 July 1938, no. 53.
Houston, Houston Museum of Fine Art, 1940, no. 3.
Tulsa, Philbrook Art Museum, 1940.
Oklahoma, Oklahoma WPA Art Center, Venetian Masterpieces, 7-31 January 1941, no. 22.
Winnipeg, Winnipeg Art Gallery Association and Vancouver, Vancouver Art Gallery, Great Masters of the Italian Renaissance: 1400-1600, October-1 December 1953, no. 38.

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

We are grateful to Frederick Ilchman, who has identified this striking picture as "an important rediscovery of a distinguished portrait" by Domenico Tintoretto, close in style to Domenico's group portrait of 1591 showing the members of the Scuola dei Mercanti (Accademia, Venice, invs. 872, 873; private communication, working from photographs, 23 April 2014). Painted in 1594 - the year Domenico's father Jacopo died - it represents Giovanni Paolo Contarini, who was appointed Procurator on 24 September 1594. Contarini likely commissioned the present picture from Domenico, then perhaps the finest portraitist working in Venice, to celebrate his new title.

More from Old Master Paintings

View All