TINTORETTO
(b. 1518, Venezia, d. 1594, Venezia)

View of the Great Council Hall

after 1588
Oil on canvas
Palazzo Ducale, Venice

In 1577 a serious fire in the Palazzo Ducale destroyed the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, originally the meeting place for the Venetian legislature. It necessitated the wholesale renovation of the pictorial decoration, and artists received explicit instructions about subject and even composition, the idea being to emulate the visual authority of the destroyed works as closely as possible. The ruined fresco by Guariento was replaced in 1594 by the immense Paradise planned and painted by Tintoretto and his workshop. The oval ceiling painting visible in the present view is the Triumph of Venice by Veronese and his pupils.




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