More than two centuries after the cycle was dismantled, the canvases depicting the “Stories of Genesis” painted by Tintoretto are reunited in the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, following a meticulous restoration that highlights the unique characteristics of the 16th-century artist’s painting style

An exceptional opportunity is being offered to the public by the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, host of the exhibition Tintoretto racconta la Genesi. Ricerca, analisi e restauro ‒ curated by Roberta Battaglia and Cristiana Sburlino with exhibition design and technical coordination by Maria Antonietta De Vivo ‒ open until 7 June 2026.
The spotlight is on the works Tintoretto dedicated to the Stories of Genesis, reunited more than two centuries after the cycle was dismantled. Shown together for the first time since their dispersal are the three canvases now in the collection of the Gallerie dell’Accademia ‒ La creazione degli animali, Il peccato originale, Caino uccide Abele ‒ alongside Adamo ed Eva di fronte all’Eterno, exceptionally granted on loan by the Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence.
The event follows a meticulous restoration campaign carried out between February 2024 and January 2025 by conservator Claudia Vittori, in preparation for the exhibition Tintoretto’s Genesis, held at the Cincinnati Art Museum from 18 April to 1 September 2025. The research and conservation project, led by the Gallerie dell’Accademia and jointly supported by the Foundation for Italian Art & Culture and the Cincinnati Art Museum, has shed significant new light on Tintoretto’s working methods, as well as on the original display intentions of both the patrons and the artist himself.
“The restoration offered […] an important opportunity for in-depth study and analysis of the works’ specific qualities ‒ their formal and compositional characteristics, painting technique, materials, and the conservation history of the entire cycle,” explain curators Roberta Battaglia and Cristiana Sburlino. “The investigations also revealed a marked coherence in technique and execution across the three paintings, from the supports to the pictorial layers.”
Originally commissioned for the Scuola della Santissima Trinità in Venice’s Dorsoduro district, the cycle dates to the early 1550s ‒ a moment of early maturity for Tintoretto, when he had assimilated and reinterpreted the lessons of Michelangelo and Tiziano. The project comprised five paintings inspired by episodes from the Book of Genesis. In addition to the canvases now preserved at the Gallerie dell’Accademia, two further paintings have survived to this day, though in a condition compromised by repeated relocations following the Scuola’s numerous changes of location: Adamo ed Eva di fronte all’Eterno, held at the Gallerie degli Uffizi, and La creazione di Eva, now in a private German collection and not included in the exhibition.
The technical study conducted during the restoration by the conservation, curatorial, and scientific research departments of the Gallerie dell’Accademia has brought to light the materials and processes employed by Tintoretto in the execution of each painting. By combining advanced imaging technologies with specialized expertise, the team was able to probe the deepest layers of the canvases, retracing the successive steps that led to their completion ‒ from the application of the ground layer and the transfer of preliminary ideas through charcoal and/or brush drawing, to subsequent revisions introduced through drawing even during the application of paint.
Freed from layers of grime and yellowed varnish, Tintoretto’s works have regained their full chromatic clarity and visual force. They now stand at the heart of an exhibition that charts the artist’s painterly procedures in light of the findings emerging from the diagnostic campaign and the recent conservation treatment.

INFO
Tintoretto racconta la Genesi. Ricerca, analisi e restauro
until 7 June 2026
GALLERIE DELL’ACCADEMIA
Campo della Carità ‒ Dorsoduro 1050, Venice
https://www.gallerieaccademia.it