Saint Christopher

This Saint Christopher, painted around 1575 and now in the Museo d'Arte Sacra San Martino, depicts the legendary giant who ferried travelers across a deep river and unknowingly carried the Christ child — the weight of whom turned out to bear the entire world's burden — in one of Christianity's most popular devotional legends. Christopher's status as patron of travelers made him ubiquitous in Venetian maritime parishes, where fishermen, gondolieri, and sailors sought his protection before crossing water. Tintoretto's treatment of the subject belongs to a devotional tradition in which the colossal figure of the saint, staff in hand and Christ child on shoulder, was painted or sculpted near church doors so that those who saw the image on entering were protected from accidental death that day — a superstition so widespread that Christopher images were common even in reformed churches that had largely abandoned the cult of saints. The painting's location in a small church museum reflects the typical situation of many Tintoretto works — originally in situ in a Venetian or Venetian-territory church, later transferred to a museum when the church was deconsecrated or its works consolidated.

Tintoretto renders the massive figure of Christopher wading through water with powerful, muscular modeling. The atmospheric treatment of the water and landscape demonstrates his mastery of natural effects.