Detail from: The Nativity LORENZO LOTTO 1523

  Lorenzo Lotto was born in Venice, c. 1480 and died in Loreto, c. 1556. In 1509, he was in Rome, where, with others, he painted frescoes, now destroyed, in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican. What he had planned as a brief stay in Bergamo to execute The Martinengo Altarpiece [Bergamo, San Bartolomeo; signed and dated 1516] became more than decade-long residence, and one of the artist's happiest periods, both personally and professionally. It was in fact in this city that Lotto reached his peak, with a continuous series of masterpieces like the astonishing wood inlays of Santa Maria Maggiore.  It is sometimes difficult to trace Lotto's movements in the 1530s; he must have spent a significant amount of time in the Marches, where he is documented in 1535, 1538, and 1539. He returned to Venice once more, where he remained until 1542, when he moved to Treviso until 1545; he returned to Venice again, and from 1549 lived in Ancona. The times, however, were no longer receptive to the intensely emotional quality of his artistry. In 1552, he retired to the Santa Casa di Loreto, where he became an oblate in 1554 and where he died sometime between September 1556 and July 1557.

This Nativity is exhibited annually in our Christmas presentation as well as we consider it one of the loveliest ever painted.


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