Lorenzo Lotto


Lotto, Lorenzo

(lōrĕn`tsō lôt`tō), c.1480–1556, Venetian painter. His work reflects the influence of several great contemporaries from Bellini to Titian, but preserves throughout a fine sensibility and intimacy quite his own. Notable among his early works are St. Jerome (Louvre); the fresco Annunciation (Church of San Domenico, Recanati, Italy); and Madonna and Saints (cathedral, Asolo, Italy). Of a later period are Bridal Couple (Prado); Christ and the Adulteress (Louvre); and portraits in the galleries of London, Milan, Rome, and Vienna. After 1554 Lotto lived with the monks of the sanctuary at Loreto, where his Presentation in the Temple remains. He is represented in numerous American collections including the Philadelphia Museum; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Metropolitan Museum.

Bibliography

See study by B. Berenson (1955).

Lotto, Lorenzo

 

Born circa 1480 in Venice; died 1556 in Loreto, in Marches. Italian painter.

Lotto’s work reflects Venetian and Lombard traditions and the influence of Raphael, Correggio, and the Northern European masters. Painting during the crisis of Renaissance art, Lotto imparted to his works emotional tension and sometimes exaggerated exaltation. His religious compositions, including the frescoes in the Oratorio Suardi in Trescore (1524) and the St. Lucy Altarpiece (1532, Pinacoteca del Commune, lesi), have varied settings. The figures, settings, and landscape backgrounds are particularly realistic. Lotto’s portraits, such as Portrait of a Youth (c. 1506-08, Museum of Art and History, Vienna), are in exquisite and brilliant colors and combine sharp character studies with emblematic details.

REFERENCES

Shcherbacheva, M. I. “Portrety Lorentso Lotto v Ermitazhe.” In Trudy Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha, vol. 8. Leningrad-Moscow [1964].
Berenson, B. Lorenzo Lotto. London-New York, 1956.
L. Lotto. Il libra di spese diverse: Con aggiunta di lettere e di altri documenti. Venice-Rome, 1969.