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Jacopo Tintoretto, 'Christ washing the Feet of the Disciples', about 1575-80

About the work

After supper with his disciples, Christ rose and began to wash their feet (John 13:2–17). When Peter refused to allow this, Christ replied that if Peter would not allow him to wash his feet then he had no place with him. Peter then asked Christ to wash his hands and head as well, but Christ said those who were clean only needed to have their feet washed. He told the disciples that they should follow his example and wash one another’s feet. The episode illustrates the need for self-abasement and fraternal love, as well as for purification by Baptism and penance.

The picture was commissioned by the Scuola di Santissimo Sacramento for the chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament in S. Trovaso, Venice, where it hung opposite Tintoretto’s Last Supper (still in the chapel today).

The painting is very damaged and worn and the paint has darkened in many places. The checkered floor was schematically repainted in the nineteenth century.

Key facts

Full title
Christ washing the Feet of the Disciples
Artist
Jacopo Tintoretto
Artist dates
about 1518 - 1594
Date made
about 1575-80
Medium and support
oil on canvas
Dimensions
204.5 × 410.2 cm
Acquisition credit
Bought, 1882
Inventory number
NG1130
Location
Room 9
Collection
Main Collection
Frame
17th-century Italian Frame

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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Saint George and the Dragon
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The Origin of the Milky Way
The Origin of the Milky Way
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The god Jupiter wished to immortalise his infant son Hercules, whose mother was the mortal Alcmene, so he held him to the breast of his sleeping wife, the goddess Juno, to drink her milk. However, Juno woke. The milk which spurted upwards formed the Milky Way, while that which fell downwards gave...
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Jupiter and Semele
Jupiter and Semele
Possibly by Jacopo Tintoretto
The story of Jupiter and Semele is told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The god Jupiter takes the mortal woman Semele as his mistress and makes her pregnant. When Jupiter’s wife, the goddess Juno, finds out, she disguises herself and suggests to Semele that her lover may not really be Jupiter. She tells...
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Portrait of a Woman (perhaps Pellegrina Morosini Capello)
Portrait of a Woman (perhaps Pellegrina Morosini Capello)
Follower of Jacopo Tintoretto
This portrait was purchased in 1855 from the Capello family, and is said to represent Pellegrina Morosini, who was from one of the oldest and most important families of sixteenth-century Venice. Pellegrina married Bartolomeo Capello in 1544 and had two children, Bianca and Vettor. She died some t...
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The Nativity
The Nativity
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Mary and Joseph kneel before the baby Jesus, who sleeps wrapped in a woven basket of sticks and straw. Joseph, the elderly carpenter, touches his rough fingers together in prayer. He holds a stick like those from which the basket is made, and two knives in a sheath lie in his lap. Mary presses he...
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You've viewed 6 of 7 works