Jacopo Robusti, called Jacopo Tintoretto (Venice 1518-1594) Venus, Mars and Cupid, oil on canvas, 75 x 63.7 cm, framed Überlangtext Provenance: Collection of Max Hevesi (1894–1948), Vienna/London, by 1931; Collection of Otto Burchard (1863–1965) Beijing/New York, by 1939 to 1950s; Collection of Walter Percy Chrysler Jr. (1909–1988), New York; Private collection, Milan, 1997; Private European collection Literature: O. Benesch, A mythological picture by Tintoretto, in: The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, no. 59, 1931, p. 3 (as Jacopo Robusti); E. von der Bercken, Die Gemälde des Jacopo Tintoretto, Munich 1942, p. 134 cat. no. 576, not illustrated (as Jacopo Robusti); R. Pallucchini, La giovinezza del Tintoretto, Milan 1950, pp. 92, 157 footnote 55 (as Jacopo Robusti); O. Benesch, Some unknown early works by Tintoretto, in: Arte Veneta, no. 10, 1956, pp. 97-98, fig. 104; B. Berenson, Pitture italiane del rinascimento, La scuola Veneta, Florence 1958, vol. I, p. 174 (as Lambert Sustris ?); A. Ballarin, Profilo di Lamberto d’Amsterdam (Lamberto Sustris), in: Arte Veneta, no. 16, 1962, p. 74, not illustrated (as Lambert Sustris); A. Ballarin, Lamberto d’Amsterdam (Lamberto Sustris): le fonti e la critica, in: Atti dell’Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, 1962-1963, p. 361, 366 (as Lambert Sustris); P. De Vecchi, L’opera completa del Tintoretto, Milan 1970, p. 134 cat. no. E1 (under ‘altre opere attribuite’); R. Pallucchini, P. Rossi, Tintoretto: le opere sacre e profane, Milan 1982, vol. I, p. 172 cat. no. 189, illustrated vol. II, p. 412 fig. 250 (as Jacopo Robusti, circa 1555); R. Pallucchini, P. Rossi, Tintoretto: le opere sacre e profane, Milan 1990, vol. I, p. 172 cat. no. 189, illustrated vol. II, p. 412 fig. 250 (as Jacopo Robusti, circa 1555) The present painting is registered in the Fototeca Zeri, under no. 41771 (as Jacopo Robusti, Il Tintoretto). The present painting has been dated to Tintoretto’s early period of circa 1555 and is chronologically contemporary with the cycle of biblical stories in the Prado Museum, Madrid. The paintings are executed in the same range of colours together with a general rhythm and flow of curved forms, especially apparent in Judith and Holofernes (see fig. 1). Also comparable are the compositions of Joseph and Putiphar’s Wife, and Moses Saved from the Waters (inv. nos. 389, 395, 396) due to the regular repetition of small, tight brushstrokes apparent in the decorative tassels, some of the clothing and headdresses, in the flesh tones and in the curls of the hair that create a rhythmic pattern. The work is also related to Tintoretto’s mythological production from the 1550s: including another composition with a similar subject, Venus and Mars surprised by Vulcan in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich (inv. no. 9257), with a comparable depiction of Mars; and Venus, Vulcan and Cupid in the Pitti Palace, Florence (inv. no. 00294820). In the present painting the three figures are seated on the clouds, embracing one another, as they are bathed in a golden light. The flesh tones of Venus and Cupid are rendered in rosy hues, while those of Mars are of a warmer brown. Mars has thrown down his weapons and armour. The depiction of the armour can be compared to Tintoretto’s celebrated portraits of Venetian condottieri including the Portrait of an admiral in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (inv. no. 24), dated to the same years. Tintoretto was amongst the most celebrated artists of the Italian Renaissance, who together with his contemporaries Titian and Veronese he dominated and forged the art of sixteenth-century Venice. His bold compositions offered an alternative style to the hierarchal staging of the traditional Renaissance paintings. Because of this, Tintoretto is often associated with the Mannerist painters of the later Renaissance period. His unique approach to artmaking with rapid, loose brushstrokes and strong contrasts between light and dark deeply challenged the traditional style of his Venetian contemporaries. Vasari’s comment that Tintoretto’s swift technique, performed with ‘such rapidity, that, when it was thought that he had scarcely begun, he had finished’ (see G. Vasari, Le vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori’ nelle redazioni del 1550 e 1568, R. Bettarini, P. Barocchi [eds.], vol. 5, 1966 [1984], p. 471, ‘con tanta prestezza, che quando altri non ha pensato a pena che egli abbia cominciato, egli ha finito’), is simply an observation of exactly the freedom of brushwork that was so admired by his contemporaries. This painting was once in the collection of Walter Percy Chrysler Junior (1909–1988), son of the well-known car designer and founder of the Chrysler Corporation. He was a significant art collector and benefactor of museums. In 1971 Chrysler, with no heirs, donated most of his collection to the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. Technical analysis by Gianluca Poldi: IR reflectographic images (IRR), performed both in the short and long-wave range, as well as transmitted IR (TIR), show that there is a very free underdrawing, made with a brush and a black ink or pigment: it is a fast and very summary sketch, which was used by the painter for an initial concept in the placement of the figures. The heads of Venus and Mars were in conceived a larger higher position with simple ovals, the goddess´ bent arm was sketched raised almost to shoulder level, and the bodies were probably more elongated. Almost no trace can be seen for the small Adonis, while some clouds were alluded to and some signs gave the first idea of the sun rays in the upper right. Jacopo Tintoretto used such free initial sketches in other paintings. The original drawing was subsequently changed during painting, The finished version may have been defined by another underdrawing at least partially, such as the left arm of Venus and little else, but this second drawing could have been drawn with a medium extensively transparent to IR radiation, so that it is barely visible. Pigments, examined by means of non-invasive spectroscopies, display mixtures that are impressive, as usual in works by Tintoretto. He painted over a thin whitish ground, perhaps applied over a canvas that was primed with a thin brown layer, using in the cloudy sky a mixture of lead white and – depending on the desired tone, if more grey or more pink – different amounts of smalt blue, carmine-type red lake, lead-tin yellow, but some black and green particles were also added. Here, the smalt blue does not appear to have faded, as it does in many of Tintoretto’s works. Vermillion was used in the red rays and in the flesh tones, here mixed with ochre and brown earths in the shadows and in the body of Mars. A carmine red lake was preferred in the wings of Cupid and in the mantle on which Venus sits. Lead-tin yellow constitutes the yellow rays, the lights of the armour and of the mantle, where some shades towards the right margin are made not with red, but with smalt blue. The grey hues of the armour are obtained by mixing lead white, a very finely grinded black pigment, smalt blue and a few green particles, together with a few iron oxides, while the deep green of the shield in the lower right corner is achieved by layers of verdigris.