Two Tintoretto

This is a detail of the mourning figures at the foot of the cross in Tintoretto’s Crucifixion scene in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice (see also post below). San Rocco, or St Roch, was a French plague saint, which meant he protected people, and the city, from the Black Death. Since the plague was a constant threat, especially for seafaring Venetians, San Rocco was a particularly popular saint. He’s often shown as a pilgrim. He contracted the plague, and in his depictions he shows the characteristic festering wound on his thigh. Through his faith, however, he survives and becomes a saintly model. In this detail of Tintoretto’s painting in the Scuola, a pyramid of despair piles up at the foot of the cross, with St John and the two Marys as well as other figures. The women, especially, slump into a heap, inviting the viewers to share their grief.