Was born in 1518. One of the first documents that relate to Tintoretto dates back to 22 May 1539 and it shows that while living in the countryside, he was appointed a painter.
His first works are two paintings that depict mythological scenes: Apollo and Marsias and Mercury and Argus, which were painted for Pietro Aretino in 1545. During those years his fame grew and he received many commissions from private people as well as from the church or Brotherhoods and even the Republic, which in 1550 entrusted him with the execution of some paintings for the Procuraderia of San Marcos. In 1555 he was commissioned to do two canvases, “The Coronation of Frederick Barbarroja” and his “Excommunication by Pope Alexander III”, with one completed in 1555 and the other in 1562. Unfortunately both were destroyed in a fire in 1577.
In 1562 he came into contact with the Mantuan Court and sent Hercules Gonzaga “Skirmish with the Turks” – a part of the works that he had been entrusted with.
He participated in a contest for the decoration of San Roque, and in an oval painting depicted the glory of the Saint.
In 1566 he finished a room in the Hospice and in 1567 he made two paintings for the church, “San Roque and the Sick” and “San Roque visited by the Beasts of the Desert”. In 1566 he was appointed a member of the Academy of drawing in Florence. He also made a painting on the “Final Judgement” for the Ducal palace, “The Crucifixion” in the church of San Casiano, as well as drawings for the mosaics of the basilica of San Marcos that had been entrusted to him by the Hospice and San Roque. He undertook this work between 1574 and 1581.
From 1583 to 1587 he decorated a room of the School of San Roque. During this same period he also carried out works in the Ducal palace that were entrusted to him: from 1578 to 1581, the allegories of the atrium; from 1581 to 1584 he decorated the Room of the School and from 1584 to 1587, the seizing of Zara.
In 1588 he obtained the commission to carry out “Paradise”. Although by then already 70 years old, he continued to accept commissions from private citizens as well as from the church.
Still in the middle of his activity ,and when he had just finished “The Falling of Manna from Heaven” and “The Last Supper” for San Jorge el Mayor, he died on 31 May 1594.
