According to tradition, Tintoretto studied for a brief time under Titian, but the precocity of the young painter is said to have aroused the jealousy of the master. Certainly his fiery temper and furtive business tactics caused him unpopularity among Venetian artists. It is rather difficult to verify his earlier paintings, as Tintoretto was able to assimilate styles with amazing ease. His early works are still confused with those of Bonifazio Veronese, Paris Bordone, and Andrea Schiavone. Tintoretto copied drawings by Michelangelo and may even have met him on a supposed trip to Rome (c.1545). He once stated that he aspired to combine the drawing of Michelangelo with the color of Titian.

One of his early pictures, Apollo and Marsyas, was painted for the writer Pietro Aretino. Aretino praised it highly, commenting on the rapidity of execution. This mode of impulsive expression was current in Venice and became one of the characteristics of Tintoretto's art. In 1548 he painted the Miracle of St. Mark (Academy, Venice) for the Scuola di San Marco, a picture that attracted much attention. Although there are some Michelangelesque elements in the treatment of the figures, an independent spirit was emerging. Tintoretto began to develop startling lighting effects and a highly dramatic rendering of narrative. These qualities are also evident in other works of the same period, such as the Washing of Feet (Escorial) and Last Supper (San Marcuola, Venice).

In the 1550s Tintoretto tended more in the direction of mannerism. He introduced a flickering light, contorted figures, and irrational spatial elements into such pictures as Presentation of the Virgin, Golden Calf, and Last Judgment (all in the Madonna dell'Orto, Venice). He achieved an almost ghostly effect by funneling perspective into a long, narrow lane. This technique was used in the scenes from the life of St. Mark executed (1562–66) for the Scuola di San Marco (now in the Academy, Venice, and the Brera, Milan).

In 1564 Tintoretto began his great cycle of paintings in the Scuola di San Rocco, which he worked on intermittently until c.1587. The series includes an enormous Crucifixion, the glorification of the lives of the Venetian saints, and scenes from the Passion. Remarkable for their freedom of execution, these paintings are also noted for their startling changes in viewpoint, frenetic movement, and mystic conception. An incredibly versatile artist, Tintoretto painted many scenes for the ducal palace, varying from erotic mythological pictures such as Bacchus and Ariadne, The Three Graces, and Minerva and Mars, to historical themes such as The Venetian Ambassadors before Frederick Barbarossa, The Battle of Zara, and the gigantic Paradise. Many of his other works in the ducal palace were destroyed in the fire of 1577.

The last phase of Tintoretto's art was of a highly visionary nature. He painted still more freely and obtained almost phosphorescent lighting effects in the Last Supper and Entombment (San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice). Three of his children, Domenico, Marco, and Marieta, became painters and assisted him.

His works in American collections include the Baptism of Clorinda (Art Inst., Chicago); Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes and Finding of Moses (Metropolitan Mus.); Portrait of a Lady with her Daughter (Walters Art Gall., Baltimore); Portrait of Alexander Farnese (Mus. of Fine Arts, Boston); a portrait of a Venetian senator (Frick Coll., New York City); and six paintings in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.