PIERRE - NOLASQUE BERGERET
Bordeaux 1782 - Paris 1863

Aretino In The Studio Of Tintoretto

Oil On Canvas: 59 x 49 cm (24.58 x 20.42 in)

Literature: Lucrecia N. el-Abd, Pierre-Nolasque Bergeret (1782-1863), Columbia University, Ph.D. dissertation, 1976, cat. no. 112, p. 393.

Exhibited: 1822 Salon

It may have been Bergeret who interested Ingres in the subject of the lives of the artists, but Ingres actually preceded Bergeret in the depiction of this particular anecdote from the life of Tintoretto. One of the best-known literary figures of the sixteenth century, Pietro Aretino (1492-1556) enjoyed his notoriety and gave himself the name “scourge of princes.” He wrote satirical verses, drama, and numerous letters, and was patronized by Popes and important Italian Renaissance families, including the Medici and Gonzaga. Aretino obscured the facts of his birth, pretended to be the son of a nobleman and created his name from his native town of Arezzo. After he was forced to leave Rome, Aretino settled permanently in Venice where he became a friend of the major artists in that city, Titian and Tintoretto. Bergeret’s painting records an incident that occurred upon Aretino’s and Tintoretto’s first encounter before they became friends.

The source for the picture’s subject is Carlo Ridolfi’s book, Le Maraviglie dell’arte (1648). Aretino had spoken badly of Tintoretto. When they met one day Tintoretto invited Aretino to his studio to have his portrait done. During the sitting the painter suddenly pulled out a dagger from his robe. The surprised Aretino believed he was seeking revenge, and cried out and asked what he wanted. Tintoretto replied coldly, “Don’t move. I am taking your measurements.” Suitably intimidated by the incident, Aretino never again spoke badly of Tintoretto and they ultimately became friends. Bergeret’s picture depicting Tintoretto brandishing a pistol, like those of his fellow artists Ingres and Alexander-Evariste Fragonard, differs from the account due apparently to a translator's confusion over the Italian word for dagger, “pistolese.”