As a trading metropolis and a great power, Venice attracted the rich, powerful, and famous in great numbers. Princes both sacred and secular, scholars, musicians, and men of letters visited Tintoretto when they were in the city, or summoned him to them at short notice for sittings. Tintoretto accepted many commissions for private portraits, particularly in his youth, since they brought him into contact with people of importance, and enabled him to extend his social network. Official state portraits were of particular importance to Tintoretto. Such work consolidated personal contacts with powerful officers of state, men who might give profitable and prestigious commissions for the decoration of the Doge's Palace and the library of San Marco. He painted portraits also out of the need to earn a living. His extensive oeuvre as a portraitist betrays a considerable amount of routine work.

As a portraitist, Tintoretto clearly shows the influence of the most important Venetian portraitist of the High Renaissance, Titian.

Preview	Picture Data	Info
	Self-Portrait c. 1547 Oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm Museum of Art, Philadelphia
	Portrait of a White-Bearded Man c. 1545 Oil on canvas, 92 x 60 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
	Portrait of Jacopo Sansovino before 1546 Oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Portrait of a Man (fragment) c. 1548 Oil on canvas (on wood), 44 x 39 cm Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest
	Man in Armour c. 1550 Oil on canvas, 116 x 98 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
	Portrait of a Genoese Nobleman c. 1550 Oil on canvas, 154 x 131 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Portrait of Procurator Nicolò Priuli before 1545 Oil on canvas, 105 x 125 cm Galleria Franchetti, Ca' d'Oro, Venice
	Portrait of Procurator Antonio Cappello c. 1551 Oil on canvas, 114 x 80 cm Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
	Portrait of Procurator Jacopo Soranzo c. 1550 Oil on canvas, 106 x 90 cm Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
	Portrait of Procurator Jacopo Soranzo c. 1550 Oil on canvas, 75 x 60 cm Castello Sforzesco, Milan
	Portrait of a Young Gentleman c. 1555 Oil on canvas, 105 x 92 cm Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome
	Man with a Golden Lace 1550s Oil on canvas, 103 x 76 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid
	Portrait of Doge Girolamo Priuli 1559 Oil on canvas, 63 x 49 cm Private collection
	Portrait of a Man c. 1560 Oil on canvas, 80,5 x 64 cm Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest
	Portrait of Giovanni Paolo Cornaro 1561 Oil on canvas, 102 x 81 cm Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent
	Portrait of Alvise Cornaro 1560-65 Oil on canvas, 113 x 85 cm Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence
	Portrait of Jacopo Sansovino c. 1565 Oil on canvas, 51 x 38 cm Kunstsammlungen, Weimar
	Portrait of Jacopo Sansovino 1571 Oil on canvas, 70 x 66 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Portrait of Doge Pietro Loredano c. 1570 Oil on canvas, 127 x 100 cm Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest
	Portrait of a Woman - Oil on canvas, 38 x 33, 3 cm Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest
	Portrait of a Woman Revealing Her Breasts c. 1570 Oil on canvas, 61 x 55 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid
	Portrait of a Man c. 1573 Oil on canvas, 72 x 57 cm Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice
	Doge Alvise Mocenigo c. 1570 Oil on canvas, 117 x 99 cm Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
	Portrait of a Senator c. 1570 Oil on canvas, 119 x 100 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
	Portrait of a Senator c. 1580 Oil on canvas, 63 x 50 cm Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, Pedralbes
	Portrait of Vincenzo Morosini c. 1580 Oil on canvas, 84,5 x 51,5 cm National Gallery, London
	Portrait of Sebastiano Venier with a Page c. 1580 Oil on canvas, 194 x 132 cm Private collection
	Portrait of a Procurator of St Mark's 1570s Oil on canvas, 139 x 101 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington
	Portrait of a Procurator of St Mark's (detail) 1580-83 Oil on canvas National Gallery of Art, Washington
	Self-Portrait with a Book c. 1585 Oil on canvas, 73 x 58 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Self-Portrait c. 1588 Oil on canvas, 63 x 52 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris