The battle of Taro
Jacopo Tintoretto·1579
Historical Context
The Battle of Taro in the Bavarian State Painting Collections, painted around 1579, depicts a historical military engagement. Tintoretto occasionally treated contemporary and recent historical subjects alongside his dominant religious and mythological commissions. The Battle of Fornovo (or Taro) of 1495 was one of the earliest battles of the Italian Wars, and Tintoretto's treatment demonstrates his ability to extend the Venetian historical painting tradition to recent secular events.
Technical Analysis
The battle scene creates a dynamic composition of cavalry charges and combat. Tintoretto's energetic brushwork and dramatic spatial recession capture the chaos and violence of military conflict.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the cavalry charges and combat compressed into Tintoretto's characteristic energetic composition, the chaos of battle organized by diagonal thrusts.
- ◆Look at the atmospheric recession that places the main action in the foreground while the battlefield extends into hazy distance.
- ◆Observe how Tintoretto adapts his religious painting dynamism to a secular military subject — the same rapid brushwork and foreshortening serve the battle.
- ◆Find the drama of horse and rider movement, animals and combatants rendered with the same physical immediacy he brings to all active figures.
