An Empty World Explodes With Life: Tintoretto’s ‘Creation of the Animals’

"Creation of the Animals," 1551, by Tintoretto. Oil on canvas, 5 feet by 8.5 feet. Academic Gallery, Venice. PD-US

It’s an immense task to try to capture the essence of God’s creation, although one artist made a powerful attempt.

Jacopo “Il Tintoretto” Robusti (1518–1594) apprenticed in the workshop of the leading Venetian artist at that time, Titian. A 2019 retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work at the National Gallery of Art in Washington marked the 500th anniversary of Tintoretto’s birth.

“Legend has it that when Jacopo Tintoretto was 12 years old, he was so good at drawing that he rattled Titian," Susan Stamberg wrote in an article covering the exhibit for National Public Radio’s Oregon Public Broadcast. “As the story goes—the old master had gone away for several days, and when he came back he found some of Tintoretto’s drawings.”

According to Frederick Ilchman, co-curator of the exhibit: “He saw these drawings and said, ‘Who did this?’ The young Tintoretto was nervous, thinking he'd done a bad job ... and was going to be corrected. No, they were not bad—in fact, they were too good.”

After the young artist left his apprenticeship with Titian, he was soon recognized among the greats of Venetian artists.

God Fills the World

A painting that highlights Tintoretto’s dynamic style was completed for the School of the Holy Trinity in Venice: his “Creation of the Animals” (1550–1553). The painting is large, at 8 1/2 feet wide. It depicts the Biblical story of God filling the world with an abundance of animals.

The figure of the Divine Creator resembles Michelangelo's depiction of God on the Sistine Chapel's ceiling. Detail of "Creation of the Animals," 1550–1553, by Tintoretto. Oil on canvas, 5 feet by 8 1/2 feet. Academic Gallery, Venice. Public Domain

The artist painted a scene of great action and tremendous power. The upper and lower sections of the canvas are dark and barren, barely more than a void. The composition swirls with an exciting rhythm as the Creator, in a halo of light, appears out of the darkness.

Then, God gets to work.

“God flies across the canvas, animating the animals, who fly, swim, leap, and gallop in the same direction at the very moment of their creation,” the web journal Taylor & Francis Online states, and goes on to say that “in this painting Tintoretto may have been laying claim to a sort of inspired, vivifying divine velocity.”

The Divine Creator wears a wrap of brilliant red, which flows and snaps excitedly around him. He floats over the ground near shore, with a foot against a large tree.

Like an archer, God seems to bend the bow of a small tree, shooting his finger like an arrow. As he extends a hand, fish and birds explode forward as if in a race. He has only to have a thought and they come to life, immediately rushing to fill every corner of the earth. The animals are painted in dynamic lines, rushing to fulfil their roles in the newly created world.

Fish of all kinds are depicted in "Creation of the Animals," 1550–1553, by Tintoretto. Oil on canvas, 5 feet by 8 1/2 feet. Academic Gallery, Venice. Public Domain

The sea is filled with marine animals of every kind: sturgeon, salmon, and red mullet (a species of goatfish found in the Mediterranean). Their eyes seem to communicate an understanding of where they are going: They are enriching the world of humanity.

According to Answers in Genesis, ornithologists estimate the number of living bird species in the world to be about 10,380. Abundance indeed. In Tintoretto’s sky are, just created, an array of winged fowl: swans, ducks, possibly long-beaked pelicans. They are in full flight after just coming into being. With just a thought, God does everything quickly.

In muted browns, land animals await God’s instruction. A dog drinks at the shore, and rabbits cavort under the feet of God. On the right, there are some common creatures that one would expect: a deer, cow, and a turkey. Yet there are some that are unexpected. An ostrich is in the background. “Exotic creatures like the ostrich walking on the shore were much admired as gifts from guests to the princely courts of northern Italy,” according to the Web Gallery of Art website.

The artist included a unicorn in his painting of the Genesis story. Detail of "Creation of the Animals," 1550–1553, by Tintoretto. Oil on canvas, 5 feet by 8 1/2 feet. Academic Gallery, Venice. Public Domain

Most unexpected of all is an animal thought to exist only in myth—a unicorn. The mythical creature, mouth open, seems to be straining to be set free into man’s world. Amazingly, unicorns are mentioned in the King James Version of the Bible and were well known in ancient classical culture. The tusk of another mammal, the narwhal, was sought and valued in Tintoretto’s time and in previous centuries as a medicinal cure.

On this day of creation, the world is being populated by wonderful creatures for man. The Divine Creator must have been pleased with what he had just made.

“And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:25)

Many species of birds fly off as they are immediately created in this detail of "Creation of the Animals," 1550–1553, by Tintoretto. Oil on canvas, 5 feet by 8 1/2 feet. Academic Gallery, Venice. Public Domain

Tintoretto’s Adept Brushwork

The School of the Holy Trinity in Venice commissioned Tintoretto in 1550 to do a cycle of paintings inspired by the stories of Genesis. The paintings highlighted his technique of painting with swift brushstrokes.

“In this work, Tintoretto also emphasizes his famously rapid brushwork, which picks out the multitudes of animals, God’s beard, and the furls of his cloak with quick flicks of white,” according to Taylor & Francis.

And he learned from the best. The work of Michelangelo and Titian guided him throughout his career. The artist greatly admired Michelangelo’s genius of depicting the human figure. He studied Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, especially the figures of God creating the sun, the moon, and Adam. Tintoretto learned how to use brilliant color from his Venetian master, Titian.

In fact, Tintoretto installed an inscription over his studio to remind him of the source of his inspiration: “Michelangelo’s drawing and Titian’s color” (“Il disegno di Michelangelo ed il colorito di Tiziano”).

In a bow to both of his masters in this painting, Tintoretto dynamically portrays the sacred human body with a joyful nod to the natural world. The “Creation of the Animals” is now at the Academic Gallery in Venice.