The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes

Jacopo Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti) Italian

ca. 1545–50

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 608

A crowd gathers in Tintoretto’s sprawling depiction of one of the miracles of Christ: when he is said to have fed five thousand people with just five barley loaves and two fish. Its broad, horizontal composition is typical of Venetian paintings designed to decorate the lateral wall of a chapel, confraternity hall, or the long, central hall (called the portego) of a palace. Tintoretto collaborated with assistants to produce these vast works. In the early nineteenth century, this painting and Tintoretto’s Christ Washing His Disciples’ Feet (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto) were in the Farnham Collection, Ireland, and may have been pendants.

Artwork Details

Title: The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes
Artist: Jacopo Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti) (Italian, Venice 1518/19–1594 Venice)
Date: ca. 1545–50
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 61 x 160 1/2 in. (154.9 x 407.7 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Francis L. Leland Fund, 1913
Object Number: 13.75
Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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