The exhibition Il Giovane Tintoretto retraces the first decade of the Venetian painter’s career through 60 masterpieces. From 1538, when Jacopo Robusti’s first independent work at San Geremia is documented, until 1548, the year he finished the immensely popular Miracle of the Slave commissioned by the Scuola Grande di San Marco and housed at the Gallerie dell’Accademia, this is a fascinating journey through a decade of stimulus and experimentation, which allowed Tintoretto to breathe new life into the Venetian School in a time of great change.

The exhibit features 26 of Tintoretto’s masterpieces, enhancing these important works from the museum’s permanent exhibition as they are seen in a new light beside works on loan from some of the most prestigious public and private institutions in the world. The itinerary is divided into four sections following a chronological order. It sheds light on a period in Tintoretto’s formative years which is still hotly debated, difficult to link to any single workshop or individual, by attempting to relate these years to the cultural and artistic context of Venice in the 1530s and 1540s. This approach reveals how Tintoretto acquired and transformed models to develop his own revolutionary and dramatic style, inspired by Titian, Pordenone, Bonifacio de’ Pitati, Paris Bordon, Francesco Salviati, Giorgio Vasari and Jacopo Sansovino, whose works are also featured in the exhibition.

Paintings and sculptures by Tintoretto’s contemporaries, active in the same circles, such as Andrea Schiavone, Giuseppe Porta Salviati, Lambert Sustris and Bartolomeo Ammannati, complete the works on display.

A book published by Marsilio Electa, with essays by Robert Echols and Frederick Ilchman, Vittoria Romani, Roberta Battaglia, Paola Marini, Paolo Procaccioli and Luciano Pezzolo accompanies the exhibition.