Lot 2025 Dα

Domenico Tintoretto, son and employee of the famous Venetian artist Jacopo Tintoretto, was as accomplished and sought-after a portrait painter as his father. Filippo Pedrocco was able to identify the sitter of this work as Giovanni Grimani (1506-1589), who Jacopo Tintoretto also portrayed (cf. expertise). Giovanni Grimani was a member of a respected patrician family in Venice, which produced several Doges and Patriarchs throughout the history of the city. He followed a career in the church, first becoming Bishop of Ceneda and then Patriarch of Aquileia. He was an important collector and patron of the arts. Among others, he persuaded Francesco Salviati to come to Venice, as well as amassing a great collection of ancient statuary, which he later donated to the Venetian Republic. In this depiction, Domenico Tintoretto reiterates a composition by his father, which in turn echoed the half-figure convention for bishop's portraits established by Titian in Venice.