Lorenzo Lotto described himself in his will as 'anxious' - 'molto
inquieto dela mente' - and it is that discernable note of personal
anxiety that makes his work so appealing. As this book makes clear
in over 50 full-page colour illustrations and many smaller colour
details, he is an artist of radiant beauty. The foreword renounces
the desire 'to explore Lotto's sources or trace his influence' as
admirable but only for the specialist, and announces the aim 'to
show this fascinating painter at his best and most creative'. The
key word is 'fascinating', often used lightly when discussing an
artist but here strictly appropriate. Lotto is the most personal of
artists, within the perimeters of having never devoted a canvas to
a self-portrait. It was not himself as such that interested Lotto,
but his views of what mattered in the world and what made people
tick. His portraits are unique in their edge, their awareness of
the whole range of the sitter's nature. He had a genius for the
telling prop, as the book spells out in riveting detail. Who but
Lotto would set the Christ child on a child-sized coffin and sign
it with his name to draw our attention? There are few nudes in
Lotto, and none with even a touch of the sensuous response that
distinguishes his great contemporary, Titian. (There is a record in
Lotto's accounts of a payment made for undressing a woman 'only to
look'.) Even in his own time he was renowned as a spiritual painter
of the highest sophistication, of the most intense psychological
penetration, with ravishing skills as a colourist - in short, as a
great master. This book dwells with loving intelligence on all
aspects of this unusual man of genius. David Brown says of him,
that if he was neurotic, 'he was a functioning neurotic'. The
passion palpable in his greatest works may remind us of controlled
passions of Van Gogh, but Lotto was more fortunate: he rode out his
inner conflicts and died, not suicidal, but under the protection of
a religious community. (Kirkus UK)
Hailed as the greatest Venetian painter after Titian, Lorenzo Lotto
(c. 1480-1556) is known for a delightfully idiosyncratic artistic
vision that has had special appeal for twentieth-century
sensibilities. This book-which discusses Lotto's life and
work-explores the way his formal and iconographic experiments set
him apart from the mainstream culture of his time. The volume
describes and reproduces paintings in most of the genres in which
Lotto worked, including devotional paintings, altarpieces,
portraits, and mythologies. These are arranged in chronological
order from his beginnings as a pupil of Giovanni Bellini through
the brilliant work of his maturity on which his reputation was
based, to the end of his career in a religious community on the
Adriatic coast. Focusing on his autograph paintings, the book
presents such masterpieces as Saint Jerome in the Wilderness and
Portrait of Andrea Odoni. The authors-David Alan Brown, Peter
Humfrey, Mauro Lucco, and other eminent scholars-draw on a large
number of original documents, including Lotto's will, his letters
to a confraternity in Bergamo, and his meticulously kept account
books. They discuss not only Lotto's biography and inspiration but
also his mastery of allegory, his possible sympathy with the
Protestant Reformation, the patrons of his altarpieces, and the
so-called Lotto carpets. This beautiful book is the catalogue for
an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, d.c.,
that will run from 2 November 1997 to 1 March 1998. Published in
association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington Published
in association with the National Gallery, Washington
General
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