Hotel Heureka, situated in the Cannaregio district of Venice, is close enough to the Church of Madonna dell’Orto to hear her to bells chime on the hour, much as they did in the days of sixteenth century painter Tintoretto. In anticipation of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Jacopo Robusti (known more commonly as Tintoretto), the hotel will be celebrating the artist’s works in Cannaregio, in this magnificent church it counts at its neighbour.
A few hundred years but just streets away, the gloriously gothic Madonna dell’Orto houses several of Tintoretto’s masterpieces, such as the “Presentation of the Virgin Mary” which decorates the immense organ, “The Miracle of S. Agnese,” “The Last Judgement,” “The Idolatry of the Golden Calf” and in the choir, the gigantic canvasses of “Moses Receiving the Tables of the Law.”
In addition to the works that are in situ at the Madonna dell’Orto, two extraordinary monographic exhibitions are going to be dedicated to Tintoretto; one which will be held at the Doge’s Palace, and the other at the Gallerie dell’Accademia, from 7th September 2018 to 6th January 2019. These exhibitions will kick off a series of celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of the birth Tintoretto. The anniversary will also be celebrated in 2019 with an unprecedented exhibition at the National Gallery of Washington, the first ever retrospective of the artist’s work to be held outside Italy.
The exhibition at the Doge’s Palace will showcase around seventy of Tintoretto’s paintings, including his larger canvases. These can be admired together with a rare core of drawings that illustrate the artist’s creative process, and they have been chosen with particular reference to the paintings on display. Works will also come from Milan, London, Paris, Ghent, Lyon, Dresden, Otterlo, Prague and Rotterdam. The Prado in Madrid will send five extraordinary works, including “Joseph and the Wife of Potiphar” (c. 1555), “Judith and Holofernes” (1552–1555) and “The Rape of Helen” (1578-1579), which is over three metres long. “Susanna and the Elders,” Tintoretto’s famous and fascinating masterpiece from 1555-1556, will arrive from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and, thanks to the Staatliche Museen of Berlin, visitors will also be able to appreciate his depiction of nobility with “The Portrait of Giovanni Mocenigo” (c. 1580). Meanwhile, the exhibition at the Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia, called “Il Giovane Tintoretto,” will feature an integrated sequence of extraordinary masterpieces from the world’s major public and private collections.
Many of Tintoretto’s paintings in Venice will be especially restored for the occasion, thanks to the support of Save Venice Inc., to ensure that their full expressive power and emotions may be admired. As such, it is worth visiting The Scuola Grande di San Rocco, founded in 1478. It is the only one of the historic Scuole Grandi to have survived the fall of the republic and it boasts a unique site, where over 60 paintings are preserved in their original setting in a building that has hardly undergone any alteration since its construction. Unquestionably, it has the finest collection of works by Tintoretto in existence and is a crucial element of the 3-part exhibition circuit. Make time also to see La Bottega del Tintoretto, an old workshop near Hotel Heureka where Tintoretto worked and stored his canvasses. Now a working atelier, it is the perfect place to enjoy drawing classes, lithography, printmaking, oil painting and generally soak up the period and all the memorabilia on show in the bottega.
It is still possible to see the very house where Tintoretto died in 1594, having spent the last 20 years of his left there (albeit now a private residence), definitively marked with a plaque. But perhaps the most distinguishing sculptural aspect is the small relief of Hercules holding a club, positioned halfway up the front of the house. Although most likely a reference to Tintoretto’s last name, Robusti, there is a far more popular legend that Tintoretto put it there to protect the house from a witch who was intent on stealing his daughter’s soul!
If staying at Hotel Heureka to experience this unique celebration of Tintoretto, privatised visits can be arranged through Nexa Eventi to retrace key places in his life from cradle to grave – from family-run workshops and Venetian ateliers to glass craftsmen and mosaic makers, to gold-beaters and fragrance makers and other neighbourhood gems, which all share the history and heritage common to those that Tintoretto would have seen in his days.
Contact Information:
To book a stay at Hotel Heureka, go to www.hotel-heureka.com, or e-mail .
To book a private tour around Tintoretto’s Venice, contact Gilda Zaffagnini of Nexa Eventi at www.nexave.org, or e-mail .