What's in a Name
Q: When is Tintoretto not Tintoretto? A: When he is discovered to be Comin.
The Art Newspaper reports from Venice that "Spanish art historians have renamed one of Italy’s greatest painters. Specialists at the Prado have established that Tintoretto's family name was Comin. This revelation will be presented at a major retrospective on Tintoretto (1519-94), which opens in Madrid on 29 January."
The original source of the finding is an unpublished 17th century letter written by the Marques del Carpio which places Tintoretto's birthplace in Brescia rather than in Lucca as has been commonly believed.
Either way, the artist's background is not revealed as high flying: "tintoretto" refers to the process of dying fabrics, while "comin" is a local dialect word for the spice cumin.
A former director of Madrid's Prado museum, Fernando Checa, published an article in a Spanish journal in 2004 and the result is further research on the Tintoretto family genealogy by Prado curator Miguel Falomir. Falomir's catalogue for the Venice exhibition includes an introductory essay entitled "Jacopo Comin, alias Robusti, alias Tintoretto."
Other hitherto unreognised archival references to the artist may now come to light but meanwhile, the Venice show and one at the Prado which follows, will be titled "Jacopo Tintoretto." The marketing departments will see to that.
Read more at http://www.theartnewspaper.com.
