la tartaruga di San Rocco del Tintoretto

Tintoretto, The Apotheosis of St Roch
1564
Oil on canvas, 240 x 360 cm
Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice

This oval painting is part of the ceiling decoration in the Sala dell'Albergo. After his arduous life of wanderings, narrated by the paintings in the neighbouring church, Roch finally reaches heaven, its angelic choirs, and the supreme vision "face to face."

The spirit of Michelangelo, who had only recently died, seems to permeate this ceiling picture. While the figure of God the Father is reminiscent of the Creator in the frescos of the Sistine Chapel, his encounter with the rising St Roch suggests Titian's famous Assunta, the epoch-making altarpiece of 1516/18 in the nearby Frari church, showing the Assumption of the Virgin. The muscular figure of the saint, patron of the victims of the plague, and the attractive representatives of the nine choirs of angels, slightly reminiscent of Gothic cathedral sculpture, seem to stand on the edge of an opening in the roof itself.

In 1564, Tintoretto decorated the ceiling of the Sala dell'Albergo with a central oval canvas, representing the Apotheosis of St Roch, surrounded by 16 allegories of various size: the Seasons (in the corners 4 rounds), the 5 allegories of the Scuole Grandi of Venice, and 7 Virtues and other female figures. On the largest wall of the room he finished the huge Crucifixion in 1565, then for the other walls, in 1566-67 he painted three more canvases related to the Passion of Christ (Christ before Pilate, Ecce Homo, Christ Carrying the Cross). Two figures of prophets were added to the decoration by Tintoretto's workshop.


View of the Sala dell'Albergo
1564-67
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Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice


View of the Sala dell'Albergo with Crucifixion by Tintoretto
1565
Oil on canvas, 536 x 1224 cm
Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice

Photocredit and text: Web Gallery of Art