Scuola Grande San Rocco Venice, “Probatic Pool” and “The Last Supper” by Tintoretto

Tintoretto “The Probatic Pool”

Oil on Canvas (533 x 529 cm) 1578-1581

The Probatic Pool This work illustrates one of the many healings of the sick performed by Christ.

Here it is the healing of a sick man at the pool in Jerusalem on a Sabbath. John 5, v. 1-8

Around the pool, a large number of half-naked men and women wait for the water to bubble.

They are ready to throw themselves into it as soon as it is stirred by the Angel of the Lord in order to be healed, as it says in the Gospel:

“Now there is in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, a pool called in Hebrew Bezatha, which has five porticoes.

Beneath them lay a multitude of the sick, the blind, the lame, the crippled, waiting for the water to bubble.”

In the foreground, a man is carrying a kind of rolled mattress in his arms.

The Probatic Pool This is about the paralytic who no one was helping to get into the water first, so that he too could be healed. Jesus noticed his distress and said to him:

“Get up! Take up your mat and walk.”

And behold, he hastens to do what Jesus asks of him.

Behind this man, women. Lying on the knees of her mother, who is asking Christ for help, a young sick woman is suffering terribly.

He leans towards her, full of gentleness and kindness, and the young woman is healed!

All this takes place in the shade of a trellis, which lends naturalness and serenity to the scene.

But just behind the portico, in the background of the painting, we can see a group of men watching Jesus: these are the Jews who will testify against him, saying that he has transgressed the prohibitions of the Sabbath, which must be a day of absolute rest.

This miracle, performed on the Sabbath, was one of the charges brought against Jesus for his impiety and led to his death sentence.

Tintoretto “The Last Supper”

Oil on Canvas (538 x 487 cm) 1578-1581

The Last Supper Here The Tintoretto has proceeded in the same way as in “Jacob's Ladder”: he has amplified the perspective to greatly increase the depth of the room, where Jesus shares his last meal with his disciples.

In the foreground, two poor people who have received alms are seated in front of the two entrance steps.

The dog faithfully stays between his two poor masters while watching the guests, no doubt hoping to be given something more to eat.

Behind them, an immense interior: the great hall occupied by the guests, followed by a staircase giving access to other rooms at the back, where the master of the house's servants are busy.

The scene in the foreground is rather natural and realistic.

The Last Supper The same goes for the servants bustling about in the kitchens.

And if they seem to be in a hurry, it's because this is a festive meal, that of the Jewish Passover.

The light enters the huge house in two places at once: through the entrance in the foreground, and from the back to the right of the staircase that separates the guests from the servants.

Between the two, the chiaroscuro of the dining room, where the diagonal perspective, pushed to the extreme, considerably lengthens the rectangular table and presents it in a three-quarter view.

In this way, even though the size of the diners diminishes rapidly, we can clearly see the attitude of each of them.

At the nearest end, the tallest of the apostles is on his knees, and his fully-lit red robe emphasises his perplexed attitude: Jesus has just announced that one of them here will betray him!