The paper presents an unpublished harpsichord signed ‘Patavinus’ (which means ‘from Padua’) and dated ‘1554’. Two makers are known to have been active in Veneto in the mid-1500s who signed their instruments that way: Francesco and Antonio. The harpsichord, one of the few to have survived anywhere, is unique by the presence of painted decorations on the case: one part is purely ornamental, while the scene on the lid, featuring Venus, Cupid, Mars and Vulcan, is certainly to be attributed to Jacopo Tintoretto. The study deals with the artist’s musical interests. Sources describe him as playing and singing and prize his daughter Marietta for her skills in playing harpsichord and lute. Other paintings by Tintoretto originally made for keyboard instruments are also discussed, alongside one by Bronzino (in the Hermitage) and one by Titian (lost). Finally, the analysis of the iconography leads to two different hypotheses, and puts forward a more general consideration about the topic of conjugal love, quite popular in Venice at the time.