ABSTRACT
The commissioning of Tintoretto's painting The Birth of Saint John the Baptist in 1563 can thus be viewed as an early example of the nuns' efforts to clarify and affirm their dedication to John's father, Zachary, two decades after doubts about their patron saint had first been raised. The integration of elements from Mary's and John's nativity narratives Mary's breastfeeding from her mother Anne, and the presence of the Virgin Mary as Elizabeth's midwife, respectively suggests how Tintoretto may have viewed these two miraculous births that preceded and prefigured the advent of Christ as structurally similar and interrelated. In focusing on women engaged in reproductive labor as embodiments of charity, Tintoretto was able to draw on canonical and apocryphal texts as well as popular religious literature. Tintoretto's repeated, even programmatic, use of lactation imagery is unique in the Venetian context. The emphasis on breastfeeding as allegorized charity shows how Tintoretto's vision of piety deviates from the Tridentine Church's normative ideals.
