Tintern Abbey
a famous abbey in Monmouthshire, England, on the right bank of the Wye river; 5 miles to the N. of Chepstow; was founded for Cistercian monks in 1131 by Walter, second son of Richard Fitz-Gilbert de Clare. Rebuilt by Roger de Bigod (1269-1288), it is an excellent example of the Transition style from Early English to Decorated, the most striking features of its cruciform church (228 by 150 feet) being the central belfry arches, and four great windows with their lace-like tracery. The dismantling of the abbey followed close on the dissolution (1337), when the ruins were granted to the ancestor of the Dukes of Beaufort.
TINTORETTO II., a Venetian painter; real name JACOPO ROBUSTI; received his well-known surname from the fact of his father being a dyer (Tintore); born in Venice in 1512. He studied a for a few days under Titian, but soon deserted the studio of the master for some unknown reason, and subsequently became devoted student of antique sculpture, of anatomy, and of the works of Michael Angelo. On the walls of his studio he inscribed the ambitious motto, "Il disegno di Michelangelo ed il colori di Tiziano," and such was the ardor and rapidity of his labor, reflected in the in- TINTORETTO II. tensity of his style, that he acquired the nickname of Il Furioso. It was admitted by Sebastian del Piombo that Tintoretto could paint as much in two days as he could in as many years. The palaces and churches of Venice were rapidly adorned by him with vivid representations of his torical, mythological, and scriptural subjects, but only a few of his frescoes survive. The only works said to bear his name are: "The Crucifixion," in the Scuola di San Rocco (engraved by Agostino Caracci), the "Miracle of the Slave" in the Academy, and the "Marriage of Cana" in the Church of Santa Maria della Salute.
His largest work, "Paradise," on the ceiling of the library in the Doges' palace, is 84½ feet by 34, and contains upward of 100 figures. Other famous works are "Belshazzar's Feast," the "Tiburtine Sibyl," "Last Supper," "Worship of the Golden Calf," "Last Judgment," and "Slaughter of the Innocents." About a third of his works are symbolical, and he frequently makes ingenious use of the winged lion of St. Mark. He certainly belongs to the greatest class of painters.
Daring and passionate in imagination, Tintoretto sought to vary by dramatic movement the romantic motives of the Venetian school, and brought to perfection the poetry of chiaroscuro with something of Angelo's sublimity. Tintoretto died in Venice, May 31, 1594. His fapainters. vorite daughter, MARIETTA, who was an excellent portrait painter, died in 1590, but his son, DOMENICO, also a painter, lived till 1637.