Tintoretto’s “The Origin of the Milky Way”

Short talk at the National Gallery on “The Origin of the Milky Way” by Jacopo Tintoretto in Room 9 given by Leslie Primo.

Nice interlude after work looking at this picture and its iconography. Also covered a bit on the life of Tintoretto. I particularly liked the story of how he entered a competition to decorate the ceiling in the Council Chamber in Venice and won it by sneaking in one evening and just putting his entry up in situ then donating it to the council.

This picture was painted for the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II and shows the moment where the baby Hercules is placed on the sleeping Juno’s breast to feed and give him immortality. However she wakes and the spilt milk forms the Milky Way.

The speaker was excellent and drew quite a crowd by the end of the session and signed off with “That was the High Renaissance and this is Tintoretto. Thank you and goodnight!”

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