Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Tintoretto refused to emulate the venerated Titian, and his paintings were at first derided by his contemporaries. Vasari, ordinarily a defender of mannerism, accused him of being ``capricious,'' and some thought Tintoretto was possessed by demons. Eventually, however, the unrestrained theatricality was accepted; his expressive rendering of biblical subjects dramatized perfectly the message of the Counter Reformation. The authors, eminent Venetian scholars, consider Tintoretto the most innovative of the Venetian mannerist painters. This thorough, readable study is a good addition to the literature on Tintoretto, little of which is in English. The plates are first-rate, but as in other volumes in this series, hand-tipped and easily removable. Eleanor Riley, Getty Conservation Inst. Lib., Marina del Rey, Cal. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

This book, although written by two of the leading scholars of Venetian Cinquecento painting, does not quite meet the standards set by the best volumes of the series of which it is a part. Chief among the problems of the text is the failure to grapple with some of the most critical issues raised by Tintoretto's work: namely, the definition of mannerism for Venetian art and how it functions-or does not function-in Tintoretto's paintings; the role of genre details in Tintoretto's paintings, particularly in light of Vernonese's questioning by the inquisition for similar aspects of his painting; the delineation of portrait types; and the social role of the patrons. The authors mention these issues in passing, as they do Tintoretto's role in designing mosaics for San Marco, without even giving substance to them. Too often they rely on superlatives and overdrawn references to Tintoretto's technical facility. The book includes a chronology and a minimal selected bibliography. The 48 color plates are generally very fine; the 98 black-and-white illustrations are often muddy. The translation, while readable, still retains Italian phraseology and sentence structure, which is occasionally irksome. One expects more from these authors and from this series than this volume delivers. Academic libraries, community college level and up and general readers.-J.T. Paoletti, Wesleyan University