Portrait of Giovanni Paolo Cornaro, 1561

The Portrait of humanist Giovanni Paolo Cornaro, at the age of thirty-two, dates from 1561 and is a perfect example of a status portrait. Stylistically speaking this work belongs to the official style of Venetian portrait painting, whereby the figures are always represented against a dark background. The work was painted by Venetian artist Jacopo Robusti, also known as Il Tintoretto. The portrait was painted during the artist’s heyday. The person portrayed here was a connoisseur of antique culture and a member of the prominent Venetian Cornaro family. Several of its members were renowned humanists and artists. Tintoretto portrayed Cornaro in a half-figure portrait, with his left hand on the head of a sculpture of a woman, a broad reference to the character’s cultural background.