Tintoretto created the major ceiling and wall cycle for the Scuola Grande di San Rocco.
Tintoretto, whose birth name was Jacopo Robusti, was a leading Venetian painter of the 16th century. His work at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice represents one of the largest and most important artistic projects of his career.
He began working there in 1564 and continued for more than two decades. The cycle includes scenes from the Old and New Testaments, including the Crucifixion, the Brazen Serpent, and episodes from the life of Moses. Tintoretto used dramatic foreshortening, energetic movement, intense contrasts of light and dark, and unusual viewpoints to make the scenes appear immediate and theatrical.
The Scuola Grande di San Rocco was a charitable confraternity devoted to Saint Roch, who was associated with protection from plague. Tintoretto’s cycle is sometimes compared with Titian’s color and Michelangelo’s powerful figure design, but its rapid energy and theatrical composition are especially characteristic of Tintoretto.