TINTORE, Simone del

Italian painter. He trained at the painting academy opened in Lucca by Pietro Paolini in the mid-17th century and was acknowledged to be an excellent painter of still-lifes. He bequeathed to his third wife, Caterina del Testore, 13 paintings, almost all of them of religious subjects, which may represent evidence of a still unknown aspect of Simone's painting. There are numerous records of still-lifes by him in collections in Lucca: fruit, fungi, flowers, animals, fish and kitchens are among the most common subjects.

Attempts to recreate his oeuvreGLOSSARYThe complete body of works created by an artist. were inspired by a Still-life with Mushrooms and Cabbage (private collection), which has an old inscription with the name of the painter on the back of the canvasGLOSSARYA woven cloth used as a support for painting. The best-quality canvas is made of linen; other materials used are cotton, hemp, and jute. It is now so familiar a material that the word 'canvas' has become almost a synonym for an oil painting, but it was not until around 1500 that it began to rival the wooden panel (which was more expensive and took longer to prepare) as the standard support for movable paintings (the transition came later in Northern Europe than in Italy). Canvas is not suitable for painting on until it has been coated with a ground, which isolates the fabric from the paint; otherwise it will absorb too much paint, only very rough effects will be obtainable, and parts of the fabric may be rotted by the pigments. It must also be made taut on a stretcher or by some other means.. On the basis of that picture, two Still-Lifes with Fruit and Vegetables (both Milan, CastelloGLOSSARY"castle", palace. Sforzesco) are also attributed to Simone, one of which bears the initials ST, which had previously been attributed to Tommaso Salini. The same exhibition (Naples, 1964) contained two still-lifes with the monogram ST and the date 1645 (both Lucca, Mazzarosa private collection), and there is also another similarly monogrammed painting, dated 1671, depicting a Still-life with Animals and Fruit (Milan, private collection). A more complicated painting, Two Figures in a Landscape with Animals, Fruit and Vegetables was identified in 1984, and the hypothesis was advanced that the works of Bernardo Strozzi provided Simone with an early source of inspiration.