Scenes from Korčula - Tintoretto

JACOPO ROBUSTI IL TINTORETTO - ALTARPIECE IN THE CATHEDRAL, SS BARTHOLOMEW, MARK AND JEROME

After a four years long restoration and research process, in 2006 has been confirmed that the main altar painting in Korcula’s Cathedral Sveti Marko was painted by famous Venetian painter Jacopo Tintoretto.

Archival records from 1550 pertaining to the circumstances of the Korčula commune’s order were discovered. The commune decided to look for an author for a new painting of the Cathedral’s main altar among renowned Venetian artists of the time. The name of the then young Jacopo Tintoretto was explicitly stated in the Town Council’s records, which also noted the dynamics of the making of the composition, further confirmed by conservation-restoration analyses. The under layers thus revealed numerous modifications by Tintoretto, who had made changes to his original ideas in an attempt to please the client. Separate phases of the master’s work were identified, beginning with the drawing of the composition, underpainting and later corrections.