Introduction
Launched in collaboration with the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, the conservation campaign for Tintoretto’s monumental Crucifixion unfolded between March 2023 and March 2025. Over two years, this extraordinary 17-by-40-foot canvas was restored on-site by Caterina Barnaba and her team from the CBC conservation firm. This ambitious project was made possible thanks to the generous support of Arnold M. Bernstein.
Every stage of the conservation process was visually documented by photographer Matteo De Fina, whose work spans from the painting’s initial condition to the moment the final layer of protective varnish was applied. Additional, and exceptionally rare, imagery was produced by Salvatore Schiavone and Maria Francesca Alberghina of Start-test using infrared reflectography, allowing viewers to see beneath the surface layers and uncover new insights into Tintoretto’s working methods. This remarkable, previously unpublished visual archive is now available through a dedicated website, generously sponsored by an anonymous donor in honor of Arnold M. Bernstein.
This website offers an unprecedented opportunity to delve into Tintoretto’s Crucifixion from multiple, and often surprising, angles. Section by section, visitors can move between the restored canvas and its underdrawing, uncovering how Tintoretto built his composition, mapped out and transferred his sketches, shaped the painting’s many figures, and even revised elements as the work evolved. What is normally hidden becomes visible, revealing an artist thinking, adjusting, and inventing in real time. The website also presents a series of close-up galleries that invite viewers to step almost inside the painting itself. Conceived to follow Tintoretto’s own perspective at the moment of creation, these galleries offer a rare chance to study his brushwork up close. Stroke by stroke, they reveal how he carved out muscular, twisting bodies, animated faces with startling immediacy, and breathed life into the dozens of characters who bear witness to the scene. It is an intimate encounter with the hand, vision, and daring of Tintoretto at work.
The design of this website—and the groundbreaking digital resource it hosts—was inspired by Bernstein’s wish to support this conservation so that “future generations will be able to appreciate and experience this masterpiece by a Renaissance artist.” By opening Tintoretto’s Crucifixion to an unprecedented level of exploration, it ensures that his genius remains accessible, vivid, and alive. Whether viewed by scholars, students, or curious visitors, this platform invites new encounters with the painting and aims guarantee that Tintoretto’s legacy will continue to spark wonder and admiration for generations to come.
