Posters, reproductions of paintings by famous artists in high quality, clipart and large size photos for download. Posters, reproductions of paintings by famous artists in high resolution good quality, clipart and photos pain

The well-known altar and mythological compositions of the mature Lotto usually combine an inner dullness of feeling with a rather outward beauty of the composition. Their chilly coloring and general even “pleasant” texture are also, in general, quite banal and stylistically close to mannerism. The lack of deep thought and feeling is sometimes made up for by very ingeniously introduced everyday details, on the depiction of which the artist willingly focuses. Thus, in his The Annunciation (late 1520s; Recanati, Church of Santa Maria sopra Mercanti), the viewer allows himself to be distracted from the uneasily interpreted main figures to the amusingly depicted frightened cat, darting away from the archangel who suddenly flew in.

The inscription in Latin, praising the selfless life of Lucretia, undoubtedly aims to connect the portrait of the lady with the heroine of ancient Roman history, Lucretia, who, being dishonored by the son of Tsar Tarquinius, preferred death to a shameful life. The virtuous women of antiquity were admired during the Renaissance. Lorenzo Lotto's early paintings show a strong influence from Venetian artists, including Giovanni Bellini. The master was receptive to various artistic impressions before he developed his own special style, in a peculiar way translating into it the advantages of Venetian colorism.

In the work of Lotto, who worked in the era of the Renaissance art crisis, the traditions of the Venetian and Lombard schools, the painting of Raphael, Correggio, the masters of Germany and the Netherlands, were peculiarly intertwined. His works (frescoes in Suardi's oratorio in Trescore, 1524; the altarpiece of St. Lucia, 1532, Communal Pinakothek, Jesi; portrait of a young man, 1506-1508, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) are characterized by emotional intensity and exaltation of images, sharp expressiveness in the interpretation of characters, details furnishings, landscape backgrounds, a variety of compositional solutions, the sophistication of sonorous color. In religious compositions and portraits (Madonna and Child, Angel and Saints, 1528, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Andrea Odoni, 1527, Royal Collection, Hampton Court; Lady in the Form of Lucretia, 1533, National Gallery, London ) Lorenzo Lotto combined the sharpness of the characteristics with emotional intensity.

Other best works of the artist Lorenzo Lotto include:
Altar polyptych of San Bartolomeo in Bergamo; "Saint Jerome in the Desert" (Paris, Louvre); "Saint Nicholas in Glory" (Venice, Church of Santa Maria del Carmelo); "Assumption" (Church of Santa Maria Assunta, Celano); "Madonna with Saint Jerome and Saint Anthony of Padua" (Art Gallery, Birmingham); "Christ with the Apostles" (St. Petersburg, Hermitage); "Portrait of a young scientist" (Gallery of the Academy, Venice); "St. Anthony gives to the poor" (Venice, the church of Giovanni e Paolo); "Portrait of Fra Gregorio Belo of Vicenza" (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

In the future, especially in the portrait, the features of concrete-life realism in the artist’s work are growing (“Portrait of a Woman”; The Hermitage, “Triple Portrait of a Man”). With a decrease in interest in revealing the ethical significance of the individual and the strength of her character, these portraits of Lotto, to some extent, still oppose the openly anti-realist line of Mannerism. The most significant realistic and democratic tendencies in Lotto's work were expressed in his cycle of paintings from the life of St. Lucia (1529/30), where the artist depicts whole scenes with obvious sympathy, as if snatched from the life of his time (for example, ox-drivers from the Miracle of St. Lucia, etc.). In them, the master, as it were, finds rest and peace from those feelings full of contradictions that arise in him in the context of the growing general political and economic crisis in Italy and which color a number of his later compositions in tones of subjective nervousness and uncertainty, leading him away from the tradition of Renaissance humanism.

The book of Lorenzo Lotto's expenses has been preserved, which shows that the artist's creative path was not easy and did not bring him financial success. A gifted portrait painter, a master capable of breathing life into the interpretation of various subjects, he left his native Venice and worked in various cities of Northern Italy. In the last years of his life, Lotto found shelter in a monastery.

Lorenzo Lotto (Italian Lorenzo Lotto; 1480, Venice - 1556, Loreto) - one of the largest Venetian painters. Unable to compromise both in creativity and in the spiritual realm, Lorenzo Lotto lived a hectic life and often experienced material difficulties. Not adjusting to the prevailing tastes, Lotto traveled in search of customers who could understand and appreciate his work. After a brief period of success, he was forgotten and ridiculed in Venice. At the end of the 19th century (1895), Lotto was rediscovered for the general public by the art historian Bernard Berenson. In Berenson's opinion: "In order to understand the sixteenth century, it is as important to know Lotto as it is to know Titian."

The reconstruction of Lotto's biography and creative path is based on his correspondence, especially relating to the period of his stay in Bergamo, and Libro di spese diverse - records of income and expenses and a register of his works compiled by the artist himself. Lotto signed and dated many of his works.

Lorenzo Lotto was born in Venice in 1480 and spent his childhood and youth in this city. In Venice, he received his primary art education: Vasari writes that Lotto, "who imitated the manner of Bellini for some time, later joined the manner of Giorgione". Researchers of Lotto's work, however, suggest that he was a student of Alvise Vivarini, finding similarities in the manner of the two artists in the early works of the first. But definitely Bellini, as the most famous and significant Venetian master, influenced Lotto.

The young artist also had the opportunity to get acquainted with the achievements of contemporary northern painting: Dürer visited Venice in 1494-1495 (possibly) and in 1506-1507, and the engravings of the German artist were widely distributed south of the Alps. It is possible that Lotto adopted from Dürer a realistic depiction of details, and, at the same time, the pathos of fantastic visions. Bright light, shining colors, clear contours in Lotto's works are the characteristic features of northern painting. The style of artists such as Cima da Conegliano was much closer to Lotto than the painting of Giorgione, Bellini and his students, with soft light enveloping contours.

Between 1503 and 1504, Lotto is mentioned for the first time as a painter in Treviso, where he received his first important commission and experienced his first success. The cultural life of the provincial town revolved around the court of Bishop Bernardo de Rossi, which was made up of scientists and artists. The portrait of the bishop, made by Lotto in 1505, with its "acute psychologism anticipates the portrait of the future." For the portrait of de Rossi, Lotto created a "lid" - a complex allegory similar to the "Allegory of Chastity", also painted around 1505, a painting full of mysterious symbols.

For the church of St. Christina in Tiveron near Treviso, Lotto created an altar in 1505. In the central part of the altar, the Virgin Mary with the Child is depicted, surrounded by saints, a type of image of the Virgin, called the Holy Conversation. The connection of this altar image with the “Altar of St. Zacharias" by Bellini and "The Altar of Castelfranco" by Giorgione. Lotto's traditional iconography is getting a new development. The artist departs from the usual interpretation of the Holy Interview as a scene of in-depth contemplation. The looks that the characters exchange, their gestures, introduce an element of unease, which is enhanced by cold light and sharp contours.

The "Assumption of Mary" for the Cathedral of Asolo and "Portrait of a Young Man" (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) in 1506 were the last works for Lotto in Treviso.

Having acquired a considerable reputation in a few years, the artist was invited in 1506 to the Marche by the Dominicans of Recanati. With this monastic order, he kept in touch until the end of his days. In 1508, Lotto completed a large altarpiece for the church of San Domenico in Recanati (now kept in the City Pinakothek). The work completes the cycle of the first works of Lotto, the artist has become a mature, well-established master.

This is part of a Wikipedia article used under the CC-BY-SA license. Full text of the article here →

Lorenzo Lotto was born in Venice in 1480 and spent his childhood and youth in this city.

In Venice, he received his primary art education: Vasari writes that Lotto, "who imitated for some time the manner of Bellini, later joined the manner of Giorgione." Researchers of Lotto's work, however, suggest that he was a student of Alvise Vivarini, finding similarities in the manner of the two artists in the early works of the first. But definitely Bellini, as the most famous and significant Venetian master, influenced Lotto.

Unable to compromise both in creativity and in the spiritual realm, Lorenzo Lotto lived a hectic life and often experienced material difficulties.

Not adjusting to the prevailing tastes, Lotto traveled in search of customers who could understand and appreciate his work.

Creativity Lotto

It is possible that Lotto adopted from Dürer a realistic depiction of details, and, at the same time, the pathos of fantastic visions.

Bright light, shining colors, clear contours in Lotto's works are the characteristic features of northern painting.

The style of artists such as Cima da Conegliano was much closer to Lotto than the painting of Giorgione, Bellini and his students with soft light enveloping the contours.

The portrait of the bishop, made by Lotto in 1505, with its "acute psychologism anticipates the portrait of the future."

For the portrait of de Rossi, Lotto created a "lid" - a complex allegory similar to the "Allegory of Chastity", also painted around 1505, a painting full of mysterious symbols.

In 1508, Lotto completed a large altarpiece for the church of San Domenico in Recanati (now kept in the City Pinakothek). The work completes the cycle of the first works of Lotto, the artist has become a mature, well-established master.

After a brief period of success, he was forgotten and ridiculed in Venice. At the end of the 19th century (1895), Lotto was rediscovered for the general public by the art historian Bernard Berenson.

In Berenson's opinion: "In order to understand the sixteenth century, it is as important to know Lotto as it is to know Titian."

Lotto signed and dated many of his works.

Artist's work

"Madonna and Child with St. Peter the Martyr", 1503, Capodimonte Museum, Naples
"Portrait of Bishop Bernardo de Rossi", 1505, Capodimonte Museum, Naples
"Allegorical composition", 1505, Washington
"Portrait of a young man with an oil lamp", c. 1506, (Secretary to Bernardo dei Rossi for the pouch), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
"Altar of Tiverone", 1506, Church of Santa Cristina, Treviso
"Portrait of an unknown youth", 1506, Uffizi, Florence
Lamentation of Christ, 1508, Pinacoteca Comunale, Recanati
"Polyptych with Recanati", 1508, Villa Coloredo MELZ, Recanati
Martinengo Altarpiece, 1516, Bergamo
"Portrait of Lucia Brembati", ca. 1518, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
altar "Madonna enthroned with saints", 1521, Church of St. Bernardino, Bergamo
"The Mystical Engagement of St. Catherine", 1523, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
"Scenes from the life of St. Barbara", fresco 1524-1525, XUAR Triscore Oratory (near Bergamo)
"The Way to Calvary", 1526, Louvre, Paris
"Portrait of an unknown man with a golden paw of a lion", 1527, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
"Christ and the Sinner", in 1529, Louvre, Paris
Andreo Odone Wipe, 1527, Royal Collection, London
altar "St. Nicholas of Bari in Glory, 1529, Church of Santa Maria dei Carmine, Venice
"Madonna and Child with St. Catherine of Alexandria and the Apostle Thomas", 1530, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
"Madonna and Child with Two Angels", Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
"Portrait of a Young Man with a Pay Book", c. 1530, Academy Gallery, Florence

According to Berenson: " To understand the sixteenth century, it is as important to know Lotto as to know Titian".

Biography

Treviso

Between 1503 and 1504 Lotto is mentioned for the first time as a painter in Treviso, where he received his first important commission and experienced his first success. The cultural life of the provincial town revolved around the bishop's court Bernard de Rossi, which was compiled by scientists and artists. Portrait of a bishop, executed by Lotto in 1505, with its "acute psychologism anticipates a portrait of the future" . For the portrait of de Rossi, Lotto created a "lid" - a complex allegory similar to " Allegories of chastity”, also painted around 1505, a picture full of mysterious symbols.

For the church of St. Christina in Tiveron near Treviso, Lotto created in 1505 altar. In the central part of the altar there is the Virgin Mary with the Child, surrounded by saints, a type of depiction of the Virgin, called holy conversation. There is no doubt the connection of this altar image with the "Altar" of St. Zacharias" by Bellini and "The Altar of Castelfranco" by Giorgione. Lotto's traditional iconography is getting a new development. The artist deviates from the usual interpretation holy interview as scenes of deep contemplation. The looks exchanged by the characters, their gestures, introduce an element of unease, which is enhanced by cold light and sharp contours.

« Assumption of Mary"for the Cathedral" in Asolo and "Portrait of a Young Man" (Museum of the History of Arts, Vienna) in 1506 were the last works for Lotto in Treviso.

Marche and Rome

Having acquired a significant reputation in a few years, the artist was invited in 1506 to the Marche by the Dominicans of Recanati. With this monastic order, he kept in touch until the end of his days. In 1508, Lotto completed a large altarpiece for the church of San Domenico in Recanati (now kept in the City Pinakothek). The work completes the cycle of Lotto's first works, the artist has become a mature, fully established master.

After a brief return to Treviso, he traveled to Rome in 1509, summoned by Pope Julius II to take part in the decoration of apartments in the Vatican Palace. Here he worked with Sodoma and Bramantino, the murals were subsequently destroyed, as it was necessary to make room for the works of Raphael.

With a certain degree of certainty can be attributed to the Roman period " Penitent Saint Jerome”(1509, Castle of the Holy Angel), the artist already addressed this topic in 1506 (art critics see the influence of the fine arts of Germany and the Netherlands in this picture). The Roman version is distinguished by a less "northern", light, but at the same time disturbing landscape with anthropomorphic trees.

Judging by the late paintings of the artist, he visited Perugia and Florence, where he got acquainted with the works of Perugino and Raphael. Lotto returned to the Marche, which is known from the contract signed on October 18, 1511 by the artist with the Brotherhood of the Good Jesus Jesi. Lotto undertook to paint The Descent from the Cross for the church of San Floriano (the painting is currently in the local art gallery).

Bergamo (1513-1526)

In 1513, Lotto faced a kind of competition with other artists, as a result of which he was chosen by the Dominicans of Bergamo to perform the altarpiece of their church (Chiesa dei Santi Domenico e Stefano). His stay in the city began, where the most calm and fruitful years of the artist's life passed.

“... having paid tribute to the “grand goût” of the century, oriented towards antiquity, which was reflected in the work of Raphael, Michelangelo or Titian, they continued to follow a different path and, thanks to their more pronounced humanity, more humble piety, more faithful and carefully thought out coloring<…>, retained a disposition to a better understanding of the nature of people and things, and this was tantamount to both the ability to clearly dissolve in a faceless crowd, and the ability to go independent, without mythological reminiscences, an unbeaten path.

In 1524, Lotto received a commission from Count Giovanni Battista Suardi, a member of a prominent family from Bergamo, to decorate the chapel outside the family's villa in Trescore. The representation in the fresco of the Suardi Chapel of Christ in the form of a vine competes "in strangeness with the mysterious concoctions of medieval symbolism." Scenes from the lives of Saints Barbara, Clara, Brigid side by side with images of prophets and sibyls who predicted the triumph of Christ. Lotto, like Memling (see The Passion of the Christ), places episodes from the lives of Saints Clara and Barbara in the modern urban environment.

Creating a fresco with the story of St. Brigid, Lotto was forced, following the interior of the chapel (where there are two window and one doorways in the walls), to divide the painting into three parts. Each of them presents several episodes from the life of the saint.

Some works

"Madonna and Child with St. Peter the Martyr", 1503, Capodimonte Museum, Naples
"Portrait of Bishop Bernardo de Rossi", 1505, Capodimonte Museum, Naples
"Allegorical composition", 1505, Washington
"Portrait of a Young Man with an Oil Lamp", c. 1506, (Secretary to Bernardo dei Rossi for the pouch), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
"Altar of Tiverone", 1506, Church of Santa Cristina, Treviso
"Portrait of an unknown youth", 1506, Uffizi, Florence
Lamentation of Christ, 1508, Pinacoteca Comunale, Recanati
"Polyptych with Recanati", 1508, Villa Coloredo MELZ, Recanati
Martinengo Altarpiece, 1516, Bergamo
"Portrait of Lucia Brembati", ca. 1518, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
altar "Madonna enthroned with saints", 1521, Church of St. Bernardino, Bergamo
"The Mystical Engagement of St. Catherine", 1523, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
"Scenes from the life of St. Barbara", fresco 1524-1525, XUAR Triscore Oratory (near Bergamo)
"The Way to Calvary", 1526, Louvre, Paris
"Portrait of an unknown man with a golden paw of a lion", 1527, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
"Christ and the Sinner", in 1529, Louvre, Paris
Andreo Odone Wipe, 1527, Royal Collection, London
Altar "St. Nicholas of Bari in Glory", 1529, Church of Santa Maria dei Carmine, Venice
"Madonna and Child with St. Catherine of Alexandria and the Apostle Thomas", 1530, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
"Madonna and Child with Two Angels", Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
"Portrait of a Young Man with a Pay Book", ca. 1530, Academy Gallery, Florence
Lucrezia Valle, 1533, National Gallery (London)
"Marcilio Casotte with his wife and an angel", +1533, Prado, Madrid
"Adoration of the Shepherds to the Christ Child", ca. 1534, State Museum of History and Arts, Brescia
"Portrait of an architect", in 1533 (?), private collection
"Annunciation", in 1535, Pinacoteca Comunale, Recanati
"St. Christopher between St. Roch and St. Sebastian", 1535, Apostolic Palace, Loreto.
"Holy Family with three angels, St. Elizabeth and St. Zachariah", 1537, Louvre, Paris
"Altar with a halberd", 1539, Pinacoteca Civic Francesco Podestà, Ancona
"Portrait of an elderly noble gentleman with gloves", 1543, Brera Pinacoteca, Milan
"Portrait of an elderly noble gentleman with gloves", Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Laura Pola, +1543, Brera Pinacoteca, Milan
"Portrait of Febo da Brescia", +1544, Brera Pinacoteca, Milan
"St. Jerome in the Wilderness", 1544, Doria Pamphili Gallery, Rome
"Lamentation of Christ (Lorenzo Lotto)", 1545, Brera Pinacoteca, Milan

Gallery

Time : from December 14, 2012 to February 10, 2013 (opening hours: daily from 10:00 to 19:00 [ticket office until 18:00]; Thursdays from 10:00 to 21:00 [ticket office until 20:00]; Monday - day off)

Place : Moscow, Russia; The Pushkin Museum named after A.S. Pushkin, main building; st. Volkhonka, 12 (the nearest metro station is Kropotkinskaya)

Event: Exhibition« Lorenzo Lotto. Renaissance in the Marche. Paintings from Italian collections»

The cost of a ticket to the exhibition for citizens of the Russian Federation is 300 rubles.

Thanks to a new exhibition at the Pushkin Museum named after A.S. Pushkin, Russian art lovers for the first time have the opportunity to get acquainted with the work in sufficient detail Lorenzo Lotto (Lorenzo Lotto) (1480-1556), one of the largest Italian masters of the High Renaissance, cinquecento. During this period, so many geniuses of painting worked in Italy that even a remarkable talent could easily be lost behind their mighty backs. This is exactly what happened with Lorenzo Lotto, who, moreover, was a very original and independent artist, and even had a quarrelsome, restless disposition and was not inclined to create idealized images. A significant role was also played by the fact that Lotto, although he was a Venetian by birth, worked mainly not in the major art centers of that time (Rome, Florence, Venice), but in the provincial cities of Northern Italy and the region Marche in the center of the country. In general, shortly after his death, Lotto was forgotten for a very long time.

Only at the end of the 19th century Lorenzo Lotto resurrected for the public by the critic Bernard Berenson, a great specialist in the Italian Renaissance. After that, art historians began to actively engage in the artist, and in 1953 a large exhibition was held in Italy, where this unique master was rediscovered and recognized. In recent years, many articles and books have been written about him, and more recently, in 2012, an extensive exhibition was held in Italy, fully presenting the work of this unusual artist, who so belatedly earned posthumous fame and never fully emerged from the shadows. his great contemporaries.

On display in Moscow ten works by Lorenzo Lotto- not too much, but enough to get an idea of the work of not the most famous, but, of course, outstanding Italian painter of the first half16th century. Even these few works vividly show how original, unexpected, in his own way the artist interpreted even the most common subjects.

Exhibits came mainly from smaller museums in the area Marche, where the artist spent a significant part of his life, as well as from the Quirinal Palace in Rome and the Carrara Academy in Bergamo. Many of these masterpieces rarely leave Italy, and it is all the more valuable that they will stay in Russia for some time.

Featured on exhibition at the Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin pictures were painted Lorenzo Lotto in different years, but they are all created for cities of the Marche region, located in Central Italy on the eastern Adriatic coast of the Apennine Peninsula (first of all, these are cities Ancona, Recanati, Jesi, Loreto). The artist repeatedly returned to this province to fulfill private and church orders. He first went there in 1506 to create a large altarpiece in the church. San Domenico in the city of Recanati. Subsequently, he returned to the Marche region more than once, and there, at the temple complex of Santa Casa (Holy House of the Virgin) in Loreto, he ended his days as a destitute and lonely person.

Masterpieces by Lorenzo Lotto from the cities of the Marche region

The earliest exhibited works by Lorenzo Lotto- a very small picture St. James the Wanderer» ( San Giacomo pellegrino/San Giacomo Maggiore) (1511-1513), kept in the Pinakothek of the city of Recanati ( Museo civico Villa Colloredo Mels), where it was written. The painting depicts the Apostle James the Elder (James Zebedee) as a pilgrim and was previously in a chapel dedicated to this saint. The work was painted by Lorenzo Lotto after visiting Rome, where he, together with Raphael, worked on the painting of the Vatican Stanzas (in 1511) (his paintings were not preserved in Rome).

However, in its artistic solution, the picture is free from the influence of classical models, but rather indicates contacts with the trans-Alpine culture, and especially acquaintance with the work of Albrecht Dürer. The saint is represented as a mature man with a sad, weary face. He is depicted with traditional attributes, a book and a staff, in a classic pilgrim's cloak, and at his feet on the ground are a flask, a saddle bag and a hat with a shell (the shell of St. James is a symbol of pilgrims and wanderers - apparently, this image was close to Lorenzo himself Lotto). In this picture, several signs are immediately visible, characteristic of the future art of Lotto. So, for example, in almost all of his works there is an image of a landscape. In this case, it may be an image of the port of the town of Recanati. The very figure of Jacob, despite the very modest size of the picture, strikes with power and article.

Lotto worked not only in the field of religious painting. He also created an extensive gallery portraits and is rightfully considered one of the leading masters of this genre. About this side of his work helps to get an idea of the famous " Portrait of Lucina Brembati» ( Ritratto di Lucina Brembati) (c. 1518) from the collection of the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo. Work confirms fame Lorenzo Lotto as a fine portrait painter, masters of subtle psychological characteristics. We see the figure of a young lady against the background of the night sky. The woman looks directly at the viewer, proudly displaying her outfit, rich jewelry and hair, drawn out by the artist with extraordinary care. There is no doubt that the artist is far from the desire to create an ideal image of the person being portrayed. On the contrary, a certain irony and a very personal attitude of the artist to the model are not alien to the portrait. Departing from the idealization of images prevailing in Venice, Lotto adheres to a realistic approach and is not afraid to portray asymmetrical features, a heavy chin, an unsympathetic nose and a sharp look.

Interestingly, the name of the lady depicted in the portrait was established only at the beginning of the 20th century. The woman’s belonging to the famous Brembati family is indicated by the coat of arms adorning her ring on her left hand, and the name Luchina ( Lucina) is encrypted in the following rebus: the letters "CI" against the background of the moon ( moon) in the compound give the name "Lu-CI-na". Let's note one more interesting detail. It is believed that the presence of the moon in the portrait (Lucina or Lucina, that is, “bright”, is one of the epithets of the goddess Juno, the patroness of marriage and motherhood, and the Renaissance, as you know, was characterized by an appeal to antiquity), as well as a gesture of the right hand ladies hint that this woman is pregnant.

to genuine masterpieces by Lorenzo Lotto owns a wonderful picture " The mystical betrothal of St. Catherine" ("Mystical Marriage") (Matrimonio mistico di santa Caterina d "Alessandria / Nozze mistiche di Santa Caterina) (1523), also from the collection of the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo. To the left of the Madonna in the picture is the customer of the work, Nicolo Bongi ( Niccolò Bonghi). The canvas was painted in Bergamo - the city for which Lotto completed a large number of works in the period from 1513 to the early 1520s. The painting depicts the moment when the baby Christ puts a wedding ring on the finger of St. Catherine.

The characters are brought to the fore, with three characters looking at the viewer and calling for dialogue: the Madonna, St. Catherine, as well as the customer of the picture (it is worth paying attention to the slanted look of St. Catherine - this signature technique Lorenzo Lotto used many times in his other works ). The painting is distinguished by wide planes of intense color, many exquisite details, subtle movements of the bodies and hands of the characters, and the famous head tilts characteristic of many of Lotto's works. The figure of the customer stands out among them with a strictly sustained vertical.

The characters of the picture are depicted against the background of a parapet, through which a carpet with oriental ornaments is thrown. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, an amazing landscape opened up behind him with a view of Mount Sinai (probably, he was painted from the real landscapes of the Marche region). In 1527, when the French troops were in Bergamo, one of the hired soldiers cut out this fragment of the picture and took it with him. Now this part of the picture is heavily painted over with gray paint, and we will probably never know what this landscape looked like.

Some of the works presented at the exhibition in the past were parts of altar compositions, but have come down to us only in fragments. This applies in particular to the composition Annunciation", which consists of two separate images of the Virgin Mary and an angel (Angelo Annunciante and Vergine Annunciata) (c. 1525-1527), which once served as the side wings of the altar. Today, these two paintings are kept in the Pinakothek of Jesi ( jesy,Pinacotecacivicaegallerydiartecontemporanea). Scene Annunciation solved by the artist in a completely new, independent way, not similar to the well-known interpretations of this religious story. Lotto is extremely sensitive to movement and color and conveys to the viewer the deep meaning of the gospel event. Particularly expressive angel, dressed in a blue fluttering cloak, reminiscent of light airy foam. This amazing image with a very complex movement is both standing on the ground and floating in the air, hovering in weightlessness. The figure of the angel is depicted in a dynamic movement forward, while the kneeling Mary recoiled back, throwing up her hands with open palms. The angel brings the good news that Mary will become the mother of Christ, but Mary, who perceives this news, is clearly surprised and embarrassed. The gestures of her hands express rather awe and repulsion. Both figures seem to glow from within, which turns the scene into a heavenly mystical event. The warm red hue of Mary's attire contrasts with the luminous blue color of the cloak of the heavenly messenger, which creates a visual opposition of the two worlds.

Among Lotto's other religious-themed works is the large painting " Holy Family with Saint Catherine of Alexandria» (Sacra Famiglia con santa Caterina d "Alessandria) (1533), written, however, not for the church, but as a prayer image for a private person. This masterpiece by Lorenzo Lotto is kept in Bergamo, at the Accademia Carrara. Everything is unusual in this composition, built on an asymmetric arrangement of figures, which violates the usual scheme for depicting this plot, but introduces extraordinary dynamics into the work.

The author's interpretation of this repeatedly depicted plot is marked by the emotional intensity of the scene and the unusual composition. In the center of the picture, contrary to all the canons, is not the Virgin Mary, but St. Joseph.

Mary is shifted to the left, and at her feet on a stone slab lies, covering her eyes, the baby Jesus, over whom Joseph holds a white cloth. The symbolic interpretation of these details is obvious: the white board and stone slab allude to the coming atoning death of Christ, personifying, respectively, the shroud and tombstone. In the background, a spreading tree is depicted - a fig tree, referring to the idea of original sin (Adam and Eve covered their nakedness with fig leaves).

The Holy Family by Lorenzo Lotto is one of the highest examples of the coloristic mastery of this artist, who created an amazingly beautiful range of shades. The painter enriches the play of color with the vibration of folds and chiaroscuro, which makes the composition extremely mobile, both visually and emotionally. Once again, as in many other paintings by Lotto, we are struck by the complex interweaving and intersection of the views and gestures of the characters, especially Mary and Joseph. Contrasts of dissonant colors, not typical for the Titian fashion of that time, also testify to the originality of Lotto's work.

In the Marche region, Lorenzo Lotto mainly carried out orders of a religious nature, intended for churches - large altarpieces. In particular, at the exhibition you can see a giant composition " Madonna Crowned by Angels with Child and Saints Stephen, John the Evangelist, Matthew and Laurence", which is stored in the city Pinakothek of Ancona ( Pinacoteca civica Francesco Podesti, Ancona). Another title for this piece is Halberd Altar» ( Pala dell'Alabarda). This monumental altarpiece was completed c. 1539 for the church Sant'Agostino in the city of Ancona.

As in other religious works of Lorenzo Lotto, the idea of compassion dominates here, uniting the Madonna, the Christ child and the saints in the heavenly community, praying for intercession and patronage. The picture is designed in the spirit of traditional iconography, called the Holy Interview ( Sacra Conversazione) (especially common in that era in Venice), but has its own characteristics. In the center of the picture is the enthroned Madonna and Child, surrounded by the figures of four saints and crowned by angels. On the left are Stephen the First Martyr, stoned for his faith, and the Evangelist John, the author of the Apocalypse, on the right - the Apostle Simon the Zealot and the Christian Saint Lawrence. The eyes of the two characters are not directed at Mary with the baby, but at the viewer, which is unusual for compositions of this type, but reflects the artist's desire to include us in this dialogue. As in other works of the master, the symmetry is broken by the diverse gestures and poses of the characters. The whole composition is shrouded in flashes of light, which creates an emotional tension characteristic of the works of Lorenzo Lotto.

Great Martyr Simon leans on a broken and inverted halberd, from where the second name of the composition comes from. This altarpiece was commissioned by Lotto just six years after the coup that brought the city into the Papal States. The resistance of the local population was bloodily suppressed, many rebels were beheaded by order of the papal legate, and the memory of these events was still alive. In this regard, it is assumed that the broken halberd serves as a symbol of hope for peace.

Relatively small picture Holy Roch» ( San Rocco) was written by Lotto in 1549 and is located today in the city of Urbino ( Urbino - Galleria Nazionale delle Marche). Roch of Montpellier (c. 1295-1327) is a very revered Christian saint, and his images are very common in the art of the 16th century. Roch was a famous healer and took care of the plague patients. Once he himself contracted this disease, but was cured thanks to a dog that brought him bread. Returning to his hometown after being healed, Roch was imprisoned as a spy. In conclusion, he died. Saint Roch was buried in Montpellier, but already in 1485 his relics were stolen by the Venetians, who created a religious brotherhood named after him - the charitable society Scuola San Rocco ( Scuola Grande di San Rocco), famous for the fact that his building in Venice was painted by Tintoretto.

"Saint Roch" by Lorenzo Lotto was previously part of the altar composition (diptych). As in other classical depictions, the saint raises his robe, pointing to a plague sore on his left leg. The pilgrim's staff is also a characteristic iconographic attribute of this saint.

The painting ends the exhibition "Bringing to the Temple" ("Meeting of the Lord")(Presentazione al Tempio) (1554-55), which is located in Loreto, in the Pinakothek Museum ( Museo pinacoteca) temple Santa Casa(Holy house of the Virgin). Most researchers recognize it as the last work of the master. The picture is even called the artistic and spiritual "testament" of the master. Based on some incompleteness of the images and a faded range, many believe that the picture is not finished. Others suggest that it was the conscious choice of the artist in favor of the utmost restraint and stinginess of pictorial means.

One way or another, the picture fully reflects the artist's state of mind and his attitude to life. A special pictorial manner and a bitter tragic feeling allow experts to compare this work with the paintings of Rembrandt, who lived a whole century later.

At the bottom of the composition is the scene of the Presentation itself (Mary with the baby Jesus is met in the temple by Simeon the God-bearer and Anna the Prophetess), and at the top is the interior of the temple (apparently, the real temple in Loreto). A bearded monk peeps out of this gloomy space (some believe that this is a self-portrait of the elderly Lorenzo Lotto). Three priests meeting the Savior, standing one behind the other, are sometimes interpreted as a symbolic image of the three ages of human life. The throne, covered with white linen, with four completely human legs, obviously personifies the body of Christ, his atoning death.

If you look closely at the characters, then, in addition to the priests, we will see wanderers, folk types, whom Lorenzo Lotto often saw during his wandering life. This work, exciting with its mystical atmosphere and emotional intensity, completes the difficult and not very happy path of the artist, who ended his days in a charitable shelter in Loreto.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

An exhibition of paintings by Lorenzo Lotto, so unlike the works of Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Titian, expands our understanding of art Italian Renaissance, reveals an unexpected image of the High Renaissance - not ideally sublime and serene, but disturbing and emotional, lively, original and anti-conformist.

Lorenzo Lotto- an exceptional figure in the Italian artistic culture of the XVI century. Attention to psychological expressiveness and emotionally exciting images makes him spiritually related to painters of later eras. Lotto's work is seen as an innovation that anticipated important lines in the development of later European art. He is called the harbinger of Caravaggio, and some experts extend this line all the way to Goya.

The famous art historian Roberto Longhi (1890-1970), four centuries after the death of the artist, wrote: “If time could appreciate the revolutionary essence of Lotto’s art and he would take the place of the spiritual shepherd of painters, then, perhaps, Venetian art would develop further in towards Rembrandt, not Tintoretto.

Addition. Restless Lorenzo Lotto (on the life and work of the artist)

A Venetian by birth, Lorenzo Lotto left his native city at a young age and subsequently came here only occasionally, not fitting into the atmosphere of hostility and bitter rivalry between Titian and other artists. As already mentioned, most often he received orders in provincial cities, and, being a wanderer by nature, he constantly moved, never staying anywhere for a long time. However, the reason for frequent moves was probably not only the independence of his nature, but also the constant search for customers, since not everyone liked Lotto's work.

The painter was alien to the ideals of an impeccable harmonious man of the Renaissance. He saw life more directly and emotionally, showed interest in the signs of folk life, created exciting images that do not calm, but excite the viewer. Lotto did not imitate his great contemporaries, but always remained true to himself, over the years he felt more and more acutely that his art was alien to his native city.

Already in his early work, Lotto was far from the lyrical contemplation of Venetian paintings. Dramatic intonations gradually begin to dominate in his works, he develops the theme of dialogue, compassion, appeals to the viewer with a call for complicity and empathy. A German artist becomes his like-minded Albrecht Dürer, who visited Venice for the second time in 1505-1506.

Most likely, Lotto and Dürer knew each other personally. In the richest graphic collection of Lotto, there were many engravings by Durer. It is also no coincidence that for many years Lotto kept a portrait of the reformer and theologian Martin Luther. All this points to his contacts with the northern trans-Alpine culture, passion for ideas reformation and the work of artists from Germany and the Netherlands. It is not surprising that many of Lorenzo Lotto's works are distinguished by sharpness of characteristics, realism of details, expression and mystical landscape inserts characteristic of northern art.

In 1508-1509. Lotto was invited to Rome to paint the upper floors of the Vatican Palace. Here he got acquainted with the art of Raphael and Bramante, which left a mark on his work, although it did not affect its essence. The artist had a new sense of scale, which was already evident in the first works made by Lotto in Bergamo, where he moved in 1513 at the invitation of the local aristocrat Alessandro Martinengo.

IN Bergamo Lotto creates dynamic and full of inner tension altarpieces for churches San Bartolomeo, San Bernardino And Santo Spirito, as well as an outstanding cycle of frescoes for a private chapel on the country estate of the Suardi family ( Cappella Suardi) in the town of Trescore Balneario.

In 1525, Lotto went to Venice, where he worked a lot on private orders. During this period he mainly writes portraits. In total, he created over 40 portrait images, which are distinguished by a special emotional depth and a very personal relationship to the model. The choice of attributes (letters, books, fallen rose petals...) that carry a symbolic meaning and play a very important role in understanding the personality of the depicted also corresponds to the individual features of the model in Lotto's portraits.

From the late 1520s, Lotto worked especially closely with the cities of the region. Marche. He creates monumental altarpieces for churches and small prayer paintings for private clients. Particularly noteworthy is the altar of St. Lucia, made in 1532, marked by an extraordinary freshness and luminosity of the palette.

The painter also spent the last years of his life in the Marche region, without relatives and property. He lived near Ancona, in the Holy House of the Virgin ( Santa Casa) in Loreto, where he died.