Tintoretto’s Louvre ‘Paradise’ in Palazzo Bevilacqua, Verona

Tintoretto’s Louvre ‘Paradise’ in Palazzo Bevilacqua, Verona A newly identified source reveals that Tintoretto’s ‘Paradise’ in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, was on display in Palazzo Bevilacqua, Verona, by March 1584, calling into question its traditional association with the artist’s vast painting of the subject in Palazzo Ducale, Venice, (1588–92). In Verona it became a symbol of the important role of music in the cultural patronage of Mario Bevilacqua. by LAURA MORETTI A MONG THE WORKS of art seized by Napoleon from Italian collections that remain in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, is a painting by Jacopo Tintoretto (1518/19–94) usually known as Paradise, but more accurately described as a Coronation of the Virgin (Fig.2). It arrived at the Louvre on 27th July 1798, having been removed on 18th May of the preceding year from Palazzo Bevilacqua, Verona.1 The work is usually associated with the enormous painting of Paradise in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in Palazzo Ducale, Venice, undertaken by Tintoretto between 1588 and 1592 with substantial assistance from his son Domenico (1560–1635), a link made by, among others, Carlo Ridolfi in his biography of Jacopo (1642).2 However, a newly identified description of the collections in Palazzo Bevilacqua reveals that the Louvre painting arrived in Verona before Tintoretto and his son began working on the Palazzo Ducale Paradise. The Louvre painting was listed in an inventory of the worldly goods, the Inventarium bonorum, of the celebrated collector and patron of the arts Mario Bevilacqua (1536–93; Fig.1),3 drawn up on 5th August 1593.4 According to this document, the work – described as ‘a large painting of a paradise with a gold frame’ (‘un paradiso in quadro grande cornisato à oro’) – hung in the ‘sala della galleria’ of Palazzo Bevilacqua, together I would like to thank Christophe Brouard, Deborah Howard and Stefania Mason for discussing at an early stage the material presented in this article. The research published here is part of a broader monographic project on Mario Bevilacqua and his palace in Verona, in course of publication. Thanks also to Michele Magnabosco and Francesco Marcorin for their support of my research in Verona. I also wish to thank Peter Humfrey for reading the final version of this article, and the Burlington Magazine’s anonymous referee for generous suggestions, which contributed in a substantial way to the consolidation of some of the hypotheses proposed here. 1 See, especially, L. Franzoni: Per una storia del collezionismo. La galleria Bevilacqua, Milan 1970, pp.77–78. The painting is recorded in M.-L. Blumer: 570 ‘Catalogue des peintures transportées d’Italie en France de 1796 à 1814’, Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de l’Art français (1936), II, p.301, no.286. 2 C. Ridolfi: Vita di Giacopo Robusti detto il Tintoretto, Venice 1642, p.81. 3 For Mario Bevilacqua, see, especially, V. Seta: Compendio historico dell’origine, discendenza, attioni, et accasamenti della famiglia Bevilacqua, Ferrara 1606, pp.261–63, A. Frizzi: Memorie storiche della nobile famiglia Bevilacqua, Parma 1779, pp.140–41; and P. Litta et al.: Famiglie celebri d’Italia, Milan and Turin 1819–83, II, fasc.16, tav.4. 4 Verona, Archivio di Stato (hereafter ASVr), Bevilacqua di San Michele alla Porta, b.74, fasc.1511, ‘Invent[ariu]m bonorum q[uondam] Ill[ustris] Com[itis] Marij de Bevilaquis’, 5th–6th August 1593, unfoliated, partially transcribed in Franzoni, op. cit. (note 1), pp.168–69. THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE | 162 | JULY 2020 1. Mario Bevilacqua. Late sixteenth century. Oil on paper mounted on panel, 12.7 by 9.9 cm. (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). Tintoretto’s Louvre ‘Paradise’ in Verona with portraits of the famous condottiero Sforza Pallavicino (1519–85) and his wife, Giulia Sforza di Santa Fiora,5 two other large paintings of unspecified subjects, a drawing and two ‘large celestial maps’ (‘carte grandi di cosmografia’), all in frames.6 It is known that the room also contained eighteen sculptures. Although not mentioned in the 1593 inventory, they were recorded both in a 1589 document (to which the inventory refers),7 and in a list of sculptures displayed in the room that probably dates from the 1590s.8 There were eleven busts, all but one representing Roman emperors, and six full-length marble statues,9 in addition to an ‘Apollo’ in bronze, which was the famous Hellenistic statue known as the Adorante (‘Worshipper’), now in Berlin (Fig.3).10 The façade and front block of Palazzo Bevilacqua (Fig.4), facing onto the street known today as Corso Cavour, were remodelled in their present form to the designs of the Veronese architect Michele Sanmicheli (1484–1559) in the late 1550s.11 He created a large space on the piano nobile that was referred to at first as ‘loggia’ but from the end of the sixteenth century more frequently as ‘galleria’, in response to changes in its use (Fig.5). Following Mario Bevilacqua’s acquisition of busts and antique statues, in the second half of the 1580s the room was furnished with works of art, among them the Paradise, as listed in the Inventarium bonorum.12 Until now, the 1593 inventory was the earliest known documentary reference to the presence of Tintoretto’s painting in Palazzo Bevilacqua. However, the painting is mentioned in a source that has not previously been Other copies in ASVr, Bevilacqua di Chiavica, b.39, fasc.479, unfoliated; Bevilacqua di San Michele alla Porta, b.5, fasc.39, fols.74–83. 5 See Litta, op. cit. (note 3), I, fasc. 41, tav. 22. Pallavicino was elected Capitano Generale delle Milizie di Terraferma by the Republic of Venice in 1559, and in 1570 he was sent to Cyprus, where he fought probably together with Camillo Bevilacqua, Mario’s brother. See ibid., II, fasc.16, tav.4. 6 ‘Nella sala della Galeria sop[ra] il Corso / Un paradiso in quadro grande cornisato à oro / Due retratti uno del S[igno]r Sforza Palavicino l’altro della S[igno]ra Sua consorte grandi cornisati / Doi quadri di pittura grandi cornisati / Due carte grandi di cosmografia cornisate / Una carta a’ mano cornisata’, ASVr, Bevilacqua di San Michele alla Porta, b.74, fasc.1511, unfoliated. 7 ‘Memoria de Bronzi antichi con Medaglie et Statue fatta de ottobre MDLXXXIX; et de Marmi’, ASVr, VIII Vari, fasc.187, unfoliated, partially transcribed in Franzoni, op. cit. (note 1), pp.161–64. Other copies can be found in ASVr, Bevilacqua di Chiavica, b.38, fasc.476, unfoliated; and Bevilacqua di San Michele alla Porta, b.4, fasc.36, 41–48. 8 ‘Nomi delle Teste, e statue de Marmi che sono nella loggia, e camera di mezo sopra il Corso’, ASVr, VIII Vari, reg.187, unfoliated, transcribed in Franzoni, op. cit. (note 1), pp.164–65. 9 ‘Una Venere / Bacco / Venere / Una Bacca / Faustina / Endimione che dorme’, ASVr, VIII Vari, fasc.187, document cited at note 8. 10 ‘Apollo in bronzo il quale fù trovato nel Porto di Rodi, et la parte del piè sinistro fù trovato nelli fondamenti di Padoa’, ibid. For the Adorante (Berlin, 2. Coronation of the Virgin (Paradise), by Jacopo Tintoretto. c.1564. Oil on canvas, 143 by 362 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris; Bridgeman Images). associated with the Paradise, Totius Bivilaquae familiae, legitima exactaq[ue] sexus utriusq[ue] descriptio, a genealogical table with concise biographical details of members of the Bevilacqua family, authored by Battista Peretti (1522–1611) and published in Verona in March 1584.13 This work, often cited in eighteenth-century sources, in particular by historians of the family, was long thought to have been lost.14 In 2007 Luciano Parenti published a transcription and translation of the passage discussed below as it appears in a manuscript by the scholar Ottavio Alecchi (1670–1730), who in 1704 visited Palazzo Bevilacqua and compiled a list of items in the family archive (among which was a copy of Peretti’s work), now in the Biblioteca Marciana, Venice.15 The present author has located a copy of the original publication in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.16 Peretti was employed by Gregorio Bevilacqua (1497–1570) in 1543 as tutor to his sons Camillo, Mario and Giulio.17 He remained closely associated with Mario, spending much time in the palace and assisting with the furnishing of its library. The Totius Bivilaquae familiae, dedicated to Mario, is formed of twenty-four sheets, each one printed on one side only of the page, and designed so that the sheets could be reconfigured to create a large genealogical table. The text is organised in small rectangular boxes, each of which refers to a member of the family or a noteworthy Staatliche Museen, Antikensammlung, inv. no.Sk 2), see, especially, C. Brown and A.M. Lorenzoni: ‘The “studio del clarissimo Cavaliero Mozzanico in Venezia”. Documents for the antiquarian ambitions of Francesco I de’ Medici, Mario Bevilacqua, Alessandro Farnese and Fulvio Orsini’, Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen 41 (1999), pp.55–76. 11 See, especially, P. Davies and D. Hemsoll: ‘Palazzo Bevilacqua e la tipologia del palazzo veronese’, Annali di Architettura 3 (1991), pp.58–69; and F. Marcorin: ‘Alcuni documenti inediti relativi alla facciata sanmicheliana di palazzo Bevilacqua a Verona’, Annali di Architettura 25 (2013), pp.117–34. 12 See, especially, Brown and Lorenzoni, op. cit. (note 10), as well as the present author’s forthcoming monograph. 13 B. Peretti: Totius Bivilaquae familiae, legitima exactaq[ue] sexus utriusq[ue] descriptio, Verona 1584. 14 It is not, for example, mentioned in L. Carpanè and M. Menato: Annali della tipografia veronese del Cinquecento, Baden-Baden 1992–94. 15 L. Parenti: La biblioteca del conte Mario Bevilacqua (Verona 1536–1593) e la sua rilevazione compiuta da Ottavio Alecchi, Verona 2007, pp.46–47, referring to Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS It. Cl. X, 101 (=7179), fols.29r–v. 16 Paris, Bibliothèque national de France, K-1520, available online at https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/ bpt6k321940h, accessed 9th June 2020. 17 For Battista Peretti, see P. Simoni: ‘Cenni bio-bibliografici sullo storico veronese Giovanni Battista Peretti, 1520–1611’, Studi storici veronesi Luigi Simeoni 46 (1996), pp.181–95. THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE | 162 | JULY 2020 571 Tintoretto’s Louvre ‘Paradise’ in Verona 3. Praying boy (‘Adorante’ or ‘Apollo’). c.300 BC, with arms added in the eighteenth century. Bronze, height 128 cm. (Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen, Berlin; photograph Johannes Laurentius). event. Fine horizontal lines connect the blood relatives, in patterns that become clear only when the plates are joined. One box, taking up half a sheet – it is the only one, other than the dedicatory letter, to be given so much space – contains a long passage describing ‘three famous spaces’ (‘tres loci celebri’) arranged by Mario in the palace. 18 ‘Questo nobilissimo Gentil’huomo, come è dotato di molte virtù, & ama in effetto tutti quelli che sono virtuosi, così con alto & elevato spirito si va facendo un Museo’, C. Sorte: Osservationi nella pittura, Venice 1580, p.17v. 19 For a more detailed analysis of this passage, see the present author’s forthcoming monograph. 20 See Appendix. My thanks to Giuseppe Pezzini for his translation into Italian of the Latin text, on which the present English translation is based. For the location of the room in the building, see L. Moretti: ‘L’immagine della musica nello “studio” del palazzo veronese di Mario Bevilacqua (1536-93)’, Music in Art 40, nos.1–2 (2015), pp.285-96. 21 Especially L. Franzoni: ‘La Galleria Bevilacqua e l’Adorante di Berlino’, Studi storici veronesi Luigi Simeoni 14 (1964): pp.103–92; Franzoni, op. cit. (note 1), at pp.77–78. 22 The bibliography is vast. See, 572 especially, J. Habert: ‘Venise et le “Paradis”. Un concours au palais des Doges’, in J. Habert, ed.: Le “Paradis” de Tintoret. Un concours pour le palais des Doges, Milan and Paris 2006, pp.17–65; and, especially for the Louvre painting, J. Habert: ‘Les deux esquisses de Tintoret pour le “Paradis”’, in ibid., pp.122–35, with a summary of the bibliography in the relevant catalogue entry. See also G. Tagliaferro: ‘Celebrating the Most Serene Republic’, in R. Echols and F. Ilchman, eds: exh. cat. Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice, Venice (Palazzo Ducale) and Washington (National Gallery of Art) 2018–19, pp.208 and 214–17. 23 ‘il primo che vi colorisse fu il Guariento, il quale, l’anno 1365 vi fece il Paradiso in testa della Sala’, F. Sansovino: Venetia citta nobilissima et singolare, Venice 1581, p.123v. 24 ‘Pur non è anco risoluto, che par che li sia data intenzione di farli THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE | 162 | JULY 2020 Bevilacqua’s creation of dedicated spaces in which to exhibit his works of art attracted the attention of his contemporaries. In 1580, for example, the cartographer, painter and writer Cristoforo Sorte (1510–95) noted that Mario ‘is making a museum for himself ’ (‘si va facendo un museo’),18 a statement confirmed by Peretti’s work.19 The ‘tres loci’ described by Peretti consisted of an ‘antiquarium’, a library and a ‘space dedicated to the Muses Euterpe and Terpsichore’ (see Appendix). The antiquarium was located, according to Peretti, in a secluded part of the palace, and therefore was not part of the loggia or galleria, which – as will be discussed – was furnished later. Peretti’s brief description of the three rooms and their contents concludes with an account of the space dedicated to the muses of music and dance, which Bevilacqua had ‘embellished with a variety of paintings, in which you may observe images pertaining to the art of music, as well as those men most skilled in musical theory and as practitioners’, together with musical instruments and scores. Peretti explains that the room was the setting for weekly concerts ‘during which the spirits may be delighted by the sounds of the voice, strings and the organ, to such a degree that this place might seem to have become a very paradise, while one may during them contemplate in one’s mind Paradise itself, on a large canvas painted by the hand of an excellent artist’.20 This is unquestionable evidence that Tintoretto’s painting was in Palazzo Bevilacqua by March 1584. With the exception of Lanfranco Franzoni’s studies of the collections in Palazzo Bevilacqua,21 the Louvre Paradise has almost always been discussed solely in association with the painting of the same subject in Palazzo Ducale, Venice (Fig.7), a project with a complex history.22 Around 1365 the Paduan artist Guariento di Arpo (1310–70) painted a fresco of Paradise on the back wall of the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, above the benches where the members of the Maggior Consiglio sat (Fig.6).23 By the middle of the sixteenth century this was in an advanced state of decay. According to a letter written by Cosimo Bartoli in Venice to Giorgio Vasari in Florence in August 1564,24 the painter Federico Zuccaro (c.1541–1609), who was then in Venice working on commissions from Giovanni Grimani, Patriarch of Aquileia, was preparing a proposal for a painting to replace the ruined fresco.25 Two drawings by Zuccaro have been associated with this project.26 According to Vasari, the possibility of a commission being awarded to Zuccaro resulted in protests by Venetian painters, no doubt put out that such an important job might be awarded to a ‘foreign’ painter, and this seems to have been the principal reason why the project was taken no further.27 lavorar qui non so che istoria nella sala grande del consiglio’, letter from Cosimo Bartoli to Giorgio Vasari, 19th August 1564, transcribed in K. Frey: Der literarische Nachlass Giorgio Vasaris, Munich 1923–30, II, pp.107–08. See Habert ‘Venise et le Paradis’, op. cit. (note 22), p.166, note 14, with further references. 25 This was confirmed in G. Vasari: Le vite de’ piu eccellenti pittori scultori e architettori, 2nd edn, Florence 1568, III/II, p.697. See Habert ‘Venise et le Paradis’, op. cit. (note 22), pp.33–35, for further discussion. 26 Paris, Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts graphiques, inv. no.4546; and New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, inv. no.61.201. See the two catalogue entries by C. Loisel in Habert Le “Paradis” de Tintoret, op. cit. (note 22), pp.70–73, suggesting that the New York drawing should be dated to the early 1580s. For further discussion and bibliography, see Habert ‘Venise et le “Paradis”’, op. cit. (note 22), pp.30–35. 27 ‘Ma le gare, e le contrarietà, che hebbe da i pittori Venitiani, furono cagione, che non l’hebbero ne essi con tanti lor’ favori, ne egli parimente’, Vasari, op. cit. (note 25), p.697. 28 See Habert ‘Venise et le “Paradis”’, op. cit. (note 22), p.36. 29 See, among others, J. Schulz: ‘Tintoretto and the first competition for the Ducal Palace “Paradise”’, Arte veneta 34 (1980), p.198, note 22, with further references. 30 The events are summarised in G. Bardi: Dichiaratione di tutte le istorie che si contengono nei quadri posti nouamente nelle Sale dello Scrutinio, & del Gran Consiglio, del Palagio Ducale della Serenissima Republica di Vinegia, Venice 1587, using manuscript material from a few years earlier. See Habert ‘Venise et le “Paradis”’, op. cit. (note 22), p.36. 31 For the complex circumstances Tintoretto’s Louvre ‘Paradise’ in Verona two younger artists, Jacopo Palma il Giovane (c.1550–1628) and Francesco Bassano (1549–92); and Zuccaro, who was once again working in Venice.31 The commission was initially awarded to Veronese and Bassano,32 but following the death of Veronese in 1588 it was passed to Tintoretto.33 The enormous painting, which remains in situ, was executed by Jacopo with his son Domenico, whom Jean Habert considered to be the true winner of the ‘competition’.34 Drawings by Jacopo and his workshop, in particular Domenico, have been associated with the commission.35 Jacopo Tintoretto produced other works on this theme, including a painting probably executed around 1583 now in the Museo ThyssenBornemisza, Madrid, which might have constituted his entry for the ‘competition’.36 There is a reasonably faithful copy of the Louvre painting in the Istituzioni di Ricovero e di Educazione (IRE), Venice (Fig.8), which has been attributed to his workshop.37 There are also two copies of the Palazzo Ducale painting, with some variations, one in the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, and the other in the Cassa di Risparmio, Venice (formerly in the Mocenigo collection, Venice).38 It has been suggested by a number of scholars that the picture in the Louvre was painted by Tintoretto around the middle of the 1560s, probably following the Venetian government’s decision not to proceed with discussions with Zuccaro.39 Jean Habert in particular noticed its stylistic similarity to the upper section of the Last Judgment, painted by Tintoretto for the church of the Madonna dell’Orto, Venice, in 1563–64.40 X-radiography carried out in 1994 confirmed that the Louvre painting could be related to the state of the room before the fire, for it 4. Palazzo Bevilacqua, Verona. Early twentieth-century photograph by Edizioni Brogi, Florence. (Biblioteca Civica, Verona). 5. Plan of the piano nobile (top) and the pianterreno of Palazzo Bevilacqua, Verona, with the galleria indicated. (Repr. in F. Ronzani and G. Luciolli: Le fabbriche civili ecclesiastiche e militari di Michele Sanmicheli, Venice 1832; photograph Biblioteca Civica, Verona). In December 1577 a fire devastated Palazzo Ducale, seriously damaging the Sala del Maggior Consiglio; by 1579 the vast room was, however, repaired and back in use.28 Some modifications were made to its structure, notably in 1582, when supporting arches for the ceiling, which had previously intruded upon the upper parts of the walls, were removed.29 After the restoration of the room was completed, the idea of replacing the fresco was revived.30 At least five painters took part in a bidding process, which has often been described as a ‘competition’, probably held around 1582: the two leading painters in Venice, Jacopo Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese; surrounding the ‘competition’, see Habert ‘Venise et le “Paradis”’, op. cit. (note 22), pp.38–39. 32 Bardi, op. cit. (note 30), p.46r. 33 Habert ‘Venise et le “Paradis”’, op. cit. (note 22), p.54. 34 Habert ‘Les deux esquisses’, op. cit. (note 22), p.129. 35 See C. Loisel: ‘Les études de Tintoret pour le “Paradis”’, in Habert Le “Paradis” de Tintoret, op. cit. (note 22), pp.136–63. 36 Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, inv. no.403 (1980.47). See Habert ‘Les deux esquisses’, op. cit. (note 22), p.134, where the author dates it around 1588; while Tagliaferro, op. cit. (note 22), pp.215–16, convincingly proposes a date c.1583, i.e. at the same time Bassano, Palma and Veronese submitted their works for the ‘competition’. 37 For this copy, see G. Nepi Sciré: ‘Un modelletto di Jacopo Tintoretto per il “Paradiso” di Palazzo Ducale’, Arte veneta 28 (1974), pp.246–88. See also Habert ‘Les deux esquisses’, op. cit. (note 22), pp.130 and 172, note 12, with further bibliography. 38 See Habert ‘Les deux esquisses’, op. cit. (note 22), p.129, with further details and references. 39 See the suggestion in Habert ‘Venise et le “Paradis”’, op. cit. (note 22), pp.47–51, and the entry in the same volume, p.130, with further bibliography. 40 Ibid., p.48. Tagliaferro, op. cit. (note 22), p.216, agrees that the canvas was painted around 1579. In a paper presented at the seminar ‘Tintoretto 500’ at Keble College, Oxford, on 26th October 2019, Giorgio Tagliaferro, who is working on the Louvre Paradise in the context of the commission for Palazzo Ducale, advanced new hypotheses concerning the dating of the work and subsequent modifications of the canvas. I wish to thank him for discussing his research with me. THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE | 162 | JULY 2020 573 Tintoretto’s Louvre ‘Paradise’ in Verona 6. Coronation of the Virgin (Paradise), by Guariento di Arpo. c.1365. Fresco, photographed in 1903. (Sala del Maggior Consiglio, Palazzo Ducale, Venice; courtesy Fondazione Musei Civici Venezia). 7. Paradise, by Jacopo and Domenico Tintoretto. 1588–92. Oil on canvas, 700 by 2,200 cm. (Sala del Maggior Consiglio, Palazzo Ducale, Venice; Bridgeman Images). takes into account the frieze which was removed as a consequence of the damage.41 Since Venetian artists objected to the commission being awarded to Zuccaro, it would not be surprising if Tintoretto had decided to paint the Louvre picture in order to put himself forward for the job. It would not have been the first time that he resorted to such opportunistic behaviour: he had previously proposed works even when no commission was yet in the offing, or offered to suspend payment if it would help him be awarded a job.42 The X-radiograph also demonstrated that the canvas has been cut up and recomposed. Two horizontal bands were detached from the upper zone – which had taken into account the architecture of the room before the fire – and stitched in reverse order onto the bottom of the canvas and painted over. Two lateral sections and the central lower section, which had been designed to accommodate the two lateral openings in the wall and the benches reserved for the members of the Maggior Consiglio, were also painted over.43 As result, the centre of the canvas was raised, resulting in a more balanced, coherent and self-sufficient composition. 574 THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE | 162 | JULY 2020 Hitherto these modifications have generally been assumed to have been connected in some way to the so-called ‘competition’ in the early 1580s. Jürgen Schulz, on the other hand, perceptively suggested that the painting might have been altered to allow it to be placed on the market.44 The evidence provided by Peretti lends weight to Schulz’s hypothesis that, in the wake of the abandonment of the project in the 1560s, the painting was sold and made its way to Palazzo Bevilacqua. One reason for the sale might have been the recession that succeeded the plague years of 1575–77, but it is also possible that Tintoretto regarded the sale of the painting as a significant opportunity to promote his work on the Venetian terraferma, hoping thereby to extend his reputation into the very heartlands of his most important rival, Veronese. It seems improbable in any case that he would have held on to a work of this type for some two decades, bearing in mind also that he could not have foreseen the 1577 fire and the subsequent events that would lead to the new commission. In addition, his style had changed profoundly in the interim; the Louvre Paradise bears little relation to the sort of works he was painting by the 1580s. This all serves to suggest that it had nothing or very little to do with the ‘competition’, a surmise that is now supported by the evidence that the painting was in Verona by March 1584 (and probably earlier, given the length of time to prepare a book for publication). By then the canvas had been modified and retouched as described above, a process that required some time, separating the painting even further chronologically from the ‘competition’. The copy in the IRE collection could have been made to preserve some memory of the work in Venice itself, or when it became clear that there was to be a bidding process for the new painting for the Sala del Maggior Consiglio. It was owned by Leonardo Ottoboni, elected Cancellier Grande in 1610, who was a well-known admirer of Tintoretto, and may perhaps have been offered to this influential politician in order to promote the artist’s work and as a ricordo of the painting that had been sold to Bevilacqua. Whatever the circumstances, once the Louvre painting, adapted to give it the appearance of an independent work, had arrived at Palazzo Bevilacqua, it assumed a new life. The picture played a crucial role in the context it joined; no longer a study for a larger project, it became subject Tintoretto’s Louvre ‘Paradise’ in Verona to a new interpretation, a symbol of the harmony that characterised the space in which it hung and the musical activities that took place there.45 Established by Mario Bevilacqua around the mid-1570s if not earlier, this became one of the most important spaces for music in Verona, known as the ‘ridotto’,46 with salaried instrumentalists and singers regularly putting on performances that were open to the public. Within the space of around twenty years, Mario became one of the great musical patrons of his time, with a reputation that went beyond Italy, as is demonstrated by the number of printed musical works dedicated to him, second only in quantity to those addressed to such princes and rulers as Alfonso II d’Este and Guglielmo Gonzaga.47 The earliest such dedicatory letter addressed to him in an edition of printed music is dated 1574,48 and explicit references to his ridotto as a space dedicated to musical perfomances and the display of works of art are known from 1580.49 It seems probable that Mario regarded the singers and instrumentalists in the central section of the Paradise (Fig.9) as symbols of his interests, making the painting a key object within both his museological and musical programmes. It is worth noticing that the alterations to the canvas described above brought the musicians into a more central, prominent position, and it may be hypothesised that the adjustments were made to accommodate the buyer’s needs. In addition, Tintoretto’s profound interest in music, recorded by Vasari and by others, should not be forgotten.50 Of a number of works by the artist reflecting his interest in music,51 two in particular may be related to Bevilacqua and musical life in Verona. A portrait by Tintoretto of the prolific madrigalist Luca Marenzio (1553/54–99), now lost, was recorded in Padua in the palazzo of the celebrated lawyer Marco Mantova Benavides (1489–1582) in an inventory drawn up towards the end of the seventeenth century.52 It is known from his correspondence with the Venetian patrician Girolamo Querini that Mantova Benavides met Tintoretto in 1541 and he might therefore have acquired the painting directly from the artist.53 The Paduan historian Angelo Portinari recorded how, on the left of the courtyard of Palazzo Mantova Benavides, which contained a majestic statue of Hercules and triumphal arch that were executed in 1544–50 to the designs of Bartolomeo Ammanati – both are still in situ – was ‘a large and highly decorated room filled with organs, harpsichords, 41 Habert ‘Venise et le “Paradis”’, op. cit. (note 22), p.47. 42 Ibid., pp.48–49. 43 See the analysis in Habert ‘Les deux esquisses’, op. cit. (note 22), pp.122–24 and 132–33, with a reproduction of the X-radiograph, showing the alterations to the canvas. 44 Schulz, op. cit. (note 29), pp.117 and 120. 45 On the significance of the term ‘paradise’ and its occurrences in Scripture, see G. Ravasi: ‘Le paradis dans les Saintes Écritures’, in Habert Le “Paradis” de Tintoret, op. cit. (note 22), pp.11–15. For the celebrated collection of musical instruments once in Palazzo Bevilacqua, see M. Castellani: ‘A 1593 Veronese inventory’, Galpin Society Journal 26 (1973), pp.15–24. 46 In the second half of the sixteenth century, the term ‘ridotto’ – especially in Northern Italy – indicated a room or a series of rooms in a private home, open to select categories of people, in which activities such as musical performances, erudite conversation and readings took Historiae 5, no.10 (1984), pp.67–119; H.C. Slim: ‘Tintoretto’s “Music-Making Women” at Dresden’, Imago Musicae 4 (1987), pp.45–76; and idem: ‘A painting about music at Dresden by Jacopo Tintoretto’, Explorations in Renaissance Culture 13 (1988), pp.1–17. 52 ‘et in Facia alla Portesina d’essi 3 Scalini vi è il Ritratto beliss[im]o di Luca Marentio fu Maes[tr]o di Cap[pel]la in San Marco di Ven[ezi]a 1580. fatto dal raro Pennello del gran Tintoretto Pittor Vene[zian]o con sua Soaza anticha d’intaglio dorata’, Biblioteca Civica di Padova, MS BP 5018, no.60, transcribed in I. Favaretto: Andrea Mantova Benavides. Inventario delle antichità di casa Mantova Benavides 1695, Padua 1978, p.123. Whereas the main part of the inventory was drawn up in 1695, the music room was inventoried on 12th September 1696. See also G. Stradner: ‘Musical instruments in an inventory by Andrea Mantova Benavides, Padua 1696’, Galpin Society Journal 60 (2002), pp.62–103, with further references. For Benavides, 8. Coronation of the Virgin (Paradise), copy after Jacopo Tintoretto. c.1580. Oil on canvas, 154 by 350 cm. (© Archivio IRE, Venice) place. The word could refer both to the activity and to the room or space in which it took place. See the definition in Giuseppe Boerio: Dizionario del dialetto veneziano, Venice 1867, p.560. 47 See O. Mischiati, ed.: Bibliografia delle opere pubblicate a stampa dai musicisti veronesi nei secoli XVI–XVIII, Rome 1993, p.xi; and P. Cecchi: ‘“Ov’è condotto il mio amoroso stile?” Poetica e committenza nei madrigali di Marenzio dedicati a Mario Bevilacqua’, Musica e Storia 10, no.2 (2002), pp.445–47. 48 G. Corona: Il primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci, Venice 1574. Cecchi, op. cit. (note 47), pp.445–47. 49 See, for instance, the dedicatory letter in G. Martinengo: Madrigali a cinque voci novamente posti in luce, Venice 1580. 50 ‘è vivo ancora, un pittore chiamato Iacopo Tintoretto, il quale si è dilettato di tutte le virtù, e particolarmente di sonare di musica, & diversi strumenti’, Vasari, op. cit. (note 25), III/II, p.592. 51 See, especially, E. Weddigen: ‘Jacopo Tintoretto und die Musik’, Artibus et see, especially, F. Tomasi and C. Zendri in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Rome 1960–, LXIX, pp.214–20. 53 ‘il portatore di questa è quel grande maestro, M. Giacomo Pittore, il quale viene con [animo] di farsi onore, e a voi piacere, non vi dirò altro, se non che l’opere sue saranno quante, che confirmaranno, e comproberanno l’[animo] suo ardentiss[im]o e massime verso voi, amico, e Mecenate dei virtuosi pittori e scultori ve lo racco[mando]’, copy of a letter from Mantova Benavides to Girolamo Querini, 22nd April 1541, Padua, Biblioteca del Seminario Vescovile, MS 619, VI, ‘Lettere di diversi al prof. Marco Mantova Benavides’, fol.37r. Other copies of Mantova Benavides’ correspondence are now in Berkeley, University of California, School of Law, The Robbins Collection, MS 63; and Venice, Biblioteca del Civico Museo Correr, MSS Correr, no.1349. See also S. Mason: ‘Tintoretto the Venetian’, in Echols and Ilchman, op. cit. (note 22), p.44, with further references. THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE | 162 | JULY 2020 575 576 THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE | 162 | JULY 2020 Tintoretto’s Louvre ‘Paradise’ in Verona viols and other musical instruments made by the finest craftsmen, where the musicians of Padua have their academy’.54 The portrait of Marenzio was hung with portraits of Claudio Monteverdi and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina in a passageway between the room containing the organ (‘camerone dell’organo’) and the ‘Upper Gallery’ (‘Galeria di sopra’).55 Benavides and Bevilacqua certainly knew one another. Although Bevilacqua did not take a degree at the university in Padua, he was one of the witnesses (‘testes’) in a number of examinations in jurisprudence in 1558 and 1559, when Benavides was recorded among the sponsors (‘promotores’) of the candidates.56 The Bevilacqua family owned a number of properties in Padua, so it is possible that Mario lived in the city for the short period of his education before moving to Bologna, where he graduated from the university in 1567. The close similarities between the internal spaces dedicated to music in Palazzo Mantova Benavides and those subsequently created in Palazzo Bevilacqua are further evidence of the influence of the older lawyer on the young student. It is possible that Mantova Benavides introduced Tintoretto to Bevilacqua. It may be further noted that in 1588 Marenzio dedicated to Bevilacqua a collection of madrigals for four, five and six voices,57 and that the ridotto in the palace in Verona also contained a number of portraits of composers and musicians. A second work attributed to Tintoretto that could be related to Bevilacqua is a painting on panel, The contest between the muses and the Pierides (Fig.10), which has been identified by Licisco Magagnato as the cover for a musical instrument and its provenance indicates that it was for a long time in collections in Verona.58 Although only speculation, it would be worth investigating the intriguing possibility that the original instrument was the ‘single manual harpsichord’ (‘clavacimbalo da una corda’) specified 54 ‘un gran camerone ornatissimo con organi, clavicembali, viole, & altri stromenti musicali fatti da artefici eccellenti, ove si fa accademia dalli musici di Padova’, A. Portinari: Della felicità di Padova, Padua 1623, p.458. For Palazzo Mantova Benavides, see, for example, M. Kiene: Bartolomeo Ammannati, Milan 1995, pp.34–42. See also G. Beltramini: ‘Spaces for music in sixteenth-century Paduan noble courts’, in D. Howard and L. Moretti, eds: The Music Room in Early Modern France and Italy: Sound, Space and Object, Oxford 2012, pp.263–81. 55 Stradner, op. cit. (note 52), pp.70, 89 and 103. 56 E. Dalla Francesca and E. Veronese, eds: Acta graduum academicorum gymnasii patavini. Ab anno 1551 ad annum 1565, Rome and Padua 2001, nos.782 (3rd July 1558); 784 (8th July 1558); 868 (18th March 1559); 884 (16th April 1559); 885 (20th April 1559); 899 (26th May 1559); 907 (1st June 1559); and 915 (18th July 1559). 57 L. Marenzio: Madrigali a quattro, cinque, et sei voci, libro primo, Venice 1588. 58 See the catalogue entry by Sergio Opposite 9. Detail of Fig.2. 10. The contest between the muses and the Pierides, by Jacopo Tintoretto. c.1545. Oil on panel, 46 by 91 cm. (Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona; Bridgeman Images). by Bevilacqua in his will as one of the items to be bequeathed to his fatherin-law, Agostino Giusti (1548–1615),59 another leading figure in Veronese artistic and musical life during the second half of the sixteenth century, and also a passionate collector.60 As well as the musical instrument, Bevilacqua bequeathed three paintings to Giusti, by Giorgione, Giovanni Francesco Caroto and Herri met de Bles, known as Civetta. Between 1565 and 1583 the Accademia Filarmonica gathered in Palazzo Giusti, and subsequently Agostino’s ridotto became an active centre for music-making.61 The notion that this musical instrument could have been embellished by an artist of the stature of Tintoretto is not to be discounted. If, in the present state of knowledge, we can only speculate on the reasons for and the precise circumstances of the sale of the Paradise, the possibility that Tintoretto and Bevilacqua were in direct contact about it seems plausible. In the early 1580s Bevilacqua was tasked by the city authorities in Verona with diplomatic functions that took him to Venice.62 It would hardly be surprising if he had not used the opportunity of this period to cultivate his knowledge of artistic and cultural circles in the city and strengthen his links with them. In addition to Marco Mantova Benavides – as previously noted – it is possible that Sorte, who also came from Verona and was much involved with Palazzo Ducale in the years following the 1577 fire, was another link between Bevilacqua and Tintoretto. Mario continued to add to his collections. In the late 1580s he acquired some important works, notably the group of antique sculptures that came Marinelli in P. Marini, E. Napione and G. Peretti, eds: Museo di Castelvecchio. Catalogo generale dei dipinti e delle miniature delle collezioni civiche veronesi, II, Dalla metà del XVI secolo alla metà del XVII secolo, Milan 2018, pp.175–76, with earlier bibliography. A date 1546–47 was proposed in 1982 by Paola Rossi on the basis of previous studies by Pallucchini and De Vecchi, see ibid., p.175. 59 ASVr, Testamenti, mazzo 189, no.677, 30th July 1593, unfoliated. 60 See, especially, D. Dossi: ‘La colle- zione di Agostino e Gian Giacomo Giusti’, Verona illustrata 21 (2008), pp.109–26; and idem and F. Marcorin: Le collezioni di Agostino e Gian Giacomo Giusti a Verona. Nascita e dispersione, Treviso 2020. 61 For Agostino Giusti as a musical patron, see, especially, N. Hémard: ‘Il conte Agostino Giusti e l’Accademia Filarmonica tra ‘500 e ‘600: vita di un mecenate veronese’, unpublished MA diss. (Université Jean Moulin, Lyon 2011). 62 For Bevilacqua’s public office, see Franzoni, op. cit. (note 1), p.95, note 51. THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE | 162 | JULY 2020 577 Tintoretto’s Louvre ‘Paradise’ in Verona from the collection of Leonardo Mocenigo (1523–76).63 These were placed in the galleria, into which were moved some key pieces already in the collection including the Paradise, which remained physically close to the ridotto, but could now be displayed next to the bronze ‘Apollo’ – the god who presided over the muses and Parnassus – another important object that Bevilacqua acquired from Mocenigo and reinterpreted to form part of the welcome offered to the numerous visitors to the musical performances in the palace. The painting remained for more than two hundred years in Palazzo Bevilacqua where it was seen and described by, among others, Bartolomeo dal Pozzo in his lives of the artists of Verona (1718) and Scipione Maffei in his illustrated history of the city (1732), both of whom considered it to be one of the most notable pictures in the collection.64 Johann Wolfgang Goethe described it admiringly in 1786: tur, suis locis repositi, eo in loco catenati quidem sunt: sed ipsius Domini benignitate, in studiosorum gratiam, eodem in loco, pro tempore semper patent. Nam illinc auferri, lex ibi proposita his verbis omnino vetat. nec prece nec precio nec gratia nec simultae codices ulli hinc auferuntor [sic]. Locum praeterea celebrem Euterpe, Terpsichoreque musis destinatum, constituit; varijsque tabulis, in quibus artis musicae, theorica, practicaque simul peritissimorum virorum cernuntur effigies, ornavit. Non desunt hic musica instrumenta, musicaeque libri generis cuiuscunque, & manu scripti, & impressi; quibus semel atque iterum omnibus hebdomadis, statutis horis, choro, chordis, & organo, animi adeo oblectantur, rapiunturque, ut quasi paradisi, dum paradisum ipsum magna in tabula excellentissimi artificis manu depictum, mens ibi contemplatur, locus esse videatur. tres loci celebres a mario bivilaqua com[ite] veronae intra domesticos parietes instituti Antiquitatis studio delectatus Marius, opulentum thesaurum, tum à numismatibus, tum à reliqua omnis antiquitatis supellectile satis instructum, in intimoque aedium recessu repositum, magna pecuniae vi sibi comparavit. Hic stant pulcherrima, atque antiquissima signa, & statuę ex aere, marmoreque, tàm artificiose facta, ut vivere, atque adeo spirare videantur. Sunt etiam Tabulae, illustrium virorum effigies repręsentantes, praeter alias diversas manu nobilium artificum depictas. Huc saepe non pauci, & pręcipue antiquitatis studiosi, tamquam in hortum amoenissimum undique confluunt; qui, vel nobilis alicuius artificis opus ex aere, marmoreque, vel excellentis picturae artificium admirentur. Bibliothecam quoque multorum numorum varijs, multisque diversarum linguarum auctoribus, etiam manu scriptis refertam, pictisque tabulis ornatam, in quibus complures ipsorum imagines ad vivum expressae apparent, commodo ad id, iuxta Victruvij praescriptum, destinato loco, me curante instituit. Ubi sunt etiam diverse tabulae chorographiae, geographię, cosmographiae, historiae, aliarumque rerum, animi tum oblectandi, tum iuvandi causa, ad parietes appensae. Codices in ea, ordine, quo facilimè invenia- three famous spaces set up by mario bevilacqua, count of verona, within the walls of his house Mario, inspired by his great passion for antiquity, has assembled a tremendously rich collection, formed of coins, as well as objects of every kind and from various epochs, which he placed in a private room in his residence. Here are to be found the most beautiful and ancient images and statues in bronze and in marble, created with such great skill that they seem to be living, perforce even to be breathing. There are also portraits of illustrious men, as well as other paintings of various types by the hands of celebrated artists. Many people come from every part to visit this place, as if it were a most enticing garden, and above all those lovers of antiquity, to admire the work of some famous artist in bronze or in marble, or else the mastery of a stupendous painting. He has also created in a suitable place, under my guidance, a library of great value, full of printed books by numerous authors of all genres and in various languages, as well as manuscripts. This space is furnished, in a manner consonant with the precepts laid down by Vitruvius, with portraits painted from life of many of the authors. Here too hanging on the walls may be seen various panels expounding aspects of our own region, wider geography, cosmography, history and other subjects, placed there not only for the instruction but also for the delight of the soul. In the library the codices are housed each one in its own location, each fixed with a chain and arranged in an order which facilitates their consultation. Thanks to the kind generosity of their noble owner, at this moment they are all arranged and available in the same place, so as to benefit those scholars using them. Indeed, a rule pertains in this place which categorically forbids their removal, expressed in these words: no codex may be removed from here, under any circumstances: neither through pleading nor through offers of payment; neither as a gift not with any other excuse. Count Bevilacqua has also created a celebrated space dedicated to the Muses Euterpe and Terpsichore, which he has embellished with a variety of paintings, in which you may observe images pertaining to the art of music, as well as those men most skilled in musical theory and as practitioners. There is no shortage in this space of musical instruments, nor of musical scores of every type, both manuscript and printed. Every week, at set hours, performances take place during which the spirits may be delighted by the sounds of the voice, strings and the organ, to such a degree that this place might seem to have become a very paradise, while one may during them contemplate in one’s mind Paradise itself, on a large canvas painted by the hand of an excellent artist. 63 See, especially, Brown and Lorenzoni, op. cit. (note 10), p.62. 64 B. dal Pozzo: Le vite de’ pittori, degli scultori et architetti veronesi, Verona 1718, p.281; and S. Maffei: und sich dessen zu erfreuen, müßte man das Stück selbst besitzen und es zeitlebens vor Augen haben. Die Arbeit geht ins Unendliche, ja die letzen in der Glorie The lightness of the brush, the spirit, the variety of expression, truly to admire and enjoy all this, one would need to possess the work oneself and to have it before one’s eyes for the whole span of one’s natural life. The painting reaches into the unlimited, even the least of the angels’ heads disappearing into the Glory have their own distinct character.65 Thus, a work that in all probability was made by the forty-five-year-old Tintoretto as a result of being riled by the prospect of an important public commission in Venice being awarded to a ‘foreign’ painter and keen to get the job for himself, became not just a key work in Mario Bevilacqua’s collection, but a symbol of harmony with a specific meaning in the life of the palace. appendix Description of ‘three famous spaces’ in Palazzo Bevilacqua, Verona. Extract from B. Peretti: Totius Bivilaquae familiae, legitima exactaq[ue] sexus utriusq[ue] descriptio; cum affinitatibus et consanguinitatibus intra quartum gradum, ordine alphabetico digestis ab anno MCLIX in hunc usque diem, Verona 1584. 578 Verona illustrata, Verona 1731–32, III, pp.390–91. 65 ‘Leichtigkeit des Pinsels, Geist, Mannigfaltigkeit des Ausdrucks, dies alles zu bewundern THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE | 162 | JULY 2020 verschwindenden Engelsköpfe haben noch Charakter’, J.W. Goethe: Italienische Reise, in idem: Werke, Zurich 1962, IX, pp.67–673, at p.110.