A Venetian Fury: Titian, Aretino and the Shadow of Tintoretto

The two friends of so many years quarreled fiercely. Aretino was resentful because he felt he had done much for Titian and did not deserve his ingratitude. Jacomo's improper behavior must have been known outside the circle of Aretino, Titian, and Sansovino.

Titian later repented of the outburst and let his friend know that he was ready to apologize. Aretino forgave him, provided he recognized that he had «stepped outside the boundaries appropriate for a man of his age and wisdom». However, we do not know what had happened between Tintoretto and Titian. The former's outburst at his friend, brother, and godfather seems almost like a scene of jealousy, envy, and spite. 

Since Titian was like a brother to him, while Jacomo was only a proud young painter, Pietro Aretino reconciled with Titian and reproached Jacomo for having betrayed or offended Titian. Or even if he didn't, Tintoretto anyway found out that the writer had dumped him. However things went, an irreconcilable rift divided Jacomo from Titian immediately and forever. Titian's public hostility toward Tintoretto ceased only with his death. 

Thus, many paintings exist depicting this very scene: Tintoretto lunging at the critic-writer, a pistol in hand (the word 'pistolesa' had become obsolete, while 'pistola' was in common use and the passage was misunderstood). 

The first was signed by Ingres in 1815 and is titled precisely Aretino in Tintoretto's Studio. In the foreground is a white canvas - because evidently the painter has not yet begun the portrait. Tintoretto, big and tall and dressed like a prince in a mediocre repertoire comedy, rests his left hand on Pietro Aretino's shoulder; in his right hand he holds a pistol with a barrel so long it looks like a hunting rifle. Pietro Aretino, anachronistically young and beardless, appears helpless and vaguely frightened. Ingres's painting was successful because more than thirty years later the painter created a variant of it. This time Pietro Aretino begs for mercy, while a woman peeks through the door at the back of the room. Tintoretto was a pure phantom to Ingres: the French painter did not know his appearance. It was the gesture, not the author of the gesture, that was worthy of memory.

A painting with the same subject was also painted by the obscure painter Menjaud. In Tintoretto's studio this time, three children about ten years old are seen peeking from behind a curtain. The writer's portrait is on the easel, and Aretino poses standing on a stool. Tintoretto holds a bunch of brushes, similar to arrows, in his left hand and a long-barreled pistol in his right.

The scene also generated a substantial amount of literature. In 1875, Giacomo Martini even dedicated a three-act drama to it, Aretino and Tintoretto or Genius and Satire. The work centered on the conflict between the young painter Giacomo Robusti and the writer.