A monographic exhibition of the work of Lorenzo Lotto is being shown until June 12, 2011 at the Scuderie del Quirinale, the most prestigious place for exhibitions in Rome.
This has reopened the debate on Lotto, which in fact had never stopped.
The idea of this exhibition was born also with the intention of raising funds to restore the paintings. Some of them are really in bad shape but the Italian state had no money to restore them. While seeking a solution capable to attract visitors and at the same time allow for the urgent needed restoration, the idea of making an exhibition where the restoration is shown as a kind of work in progress was born.
Who was Lorenzo Lotto?
Born in 1480 in Venice (the very same year as Titian, and 5 years after Michelangelo) Lotto was influenced by Giovanni Bellini and Giorgione. He must have been not older that 20 as he left Venice. The competition for a young painter would have been too great with established names such as Giorgione, Palma il Vecchio and certainly with Titian.
Thus he began to paint in several places in Italy, among others Treviso, not far from Venice, later on in several little places in the Marche until the Pope Julius II called him to paint his private apartments in the Vatican. So it happened that Lotto was painting a few rooms away from Raphael. But he kept his autonomy and never joint the circle of painters in the wake of Raphael.
Most probably in Rome he felt how heavy the expectations of the Roman entourage were. At the time the Roman Renaissance was at its height. Probably Lotto wouldn’t’ t have felt comfortable in rejecting his Venetian way of painting and his peculiar approach in order to embrace the stately classicism in vogue. In 1510, in fact, at the cost of wasting the opportunity of his life, he hastily left Rome and never came back. Only a year later, his compatriot Sebastiano del Piombo had taken the Roman chance. Lotto instead continued the restless wanderings.
What makes Lorenzo Lotto today so interesting for us?
Probably the fact that although he was surrounded by other outstanding painters (the top of the lot at his time: Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, Titan) he chooses his own style and his own point of view. A point of view that at the same time shows a deep psychological insight and a personal interpretation of religious scenes that have been painted so many times to become stereotypes.
Lotto is the painter that one generation before Caravaggio gives us the feeling that the scene painted could really happen here and now.
If we take a glance at his Annunciation, the so-called “Annunciation of Recanati” shown at the exhibition in Rome, we feel a completely new approach to this subject.
Not the traditional situation where the Virgin stands facing the angel in an attitude revealing her humble devotional and obedient acceptance of her future mission, but a young lady who is deeply surprised and upset about this very unusual occurrence and turns her back to the angel. The cat scared runs away. We can hear and feel what is happening in this room. An Angel with its large wings just touched down causing noise, blast, swirl, not to mention what happens in the upper part of the canvas: Got the Father appears to emphasize the message.
The reaction of the cat is absolutely understandable.
Who has ever seen such an annunciation?
Grazie, Lotto.
Simonetta Martelli
