Lotto in Bergamo province

There are Lorenzo Lotto's paintings not just in Bergamo, but also in several villages around the bergamask province.

Lotto in Ponteranica

A polyptych with two orders, signed and dated 1527 (or 1525): in the upper one the image of the Christ the Redeemer with the signs of the Passion appears between Mary and the Angel, the "announcement" of the Redemption; below, St. John the Baptist precursor of Christ, is surrounded by St. Peter and St. Paul, who continue his message. The work has a strong devout significance, completed by the “Stories of the Passion” in the predella (which are by another hand), and belongs to that moment of profound religious anguish (which characterized Lombardy in the years of the Reform) to which Lotto, before his return to Venice offered the contribution of a very high cultural interpretation.

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Lotto in Sedrina

In Sedrina, farther up the Val Brembana, we find an alatarpiece executed by Lotto in 1542 for the Confraternita della Misericordia (Confraternity of Mercy) that was commissioned by a group of merchants from the town who then lived in Venice. The artist had not been to Bergamo in nearly twenty years, and in Venice he was not held in high esteem, but the memory of his art must have been alive and well among those who had admired his Bergamasque works. In Venice his reputation as a pious and fervent Catholic counted little, but it was perfectly in line with the culture of the valleys of Bergamo.

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Lotto in Celana

The altarpiece in Celana, within the town limits of Caprino Bergamasco in Valle San Marino, bears the date 1527 and the signature of the artist, who in Venice was  perhaps honoring a commitment he had made before leaving Bergamo. In Mary’s dynamism and the lively gesturing of the apostles, Lotto’s recollection of Titian’s Assumption in the Frari Church in Venice is evident, but the soft landscape is that of Bergamo.

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Lotto in Credaro

In Credaro, in Valcalepio, a fresco by Lotto occupies the back wall and part of the side walls and vault of the modern-day sacristy; on the back wall of the church there is also a lunette of St. George.

Dating back to 1525, the frescoes represent the artist’s final effort before leaving Bergamo and are of a votive nature, a fact that is highighted by the humble position of the work and the line of saints alluding to the patron protectors. The depiction of the sacred theme is deliberately simple and unassuming, in keeping with idea of humanized daily devotion that inspires Lotto’s work.

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Lotto in Trescore

The large fresco, which covers the whole of the left wall of the small oratory and formerly the private chapel of Villa Suardi, has in its centre the large image of Christ inspired by the Gospel verse "I am the vine, you are the branches": long tendrils, which include the busts of Saints, emanate from his fingers and run, amidst dancing cherubs, on to the ceiling.
The church, dedicated to the stories of St. Barbara and Bridget, inside the park of Villa Suardi, was commissioned by Giovan Battista and Maffeo Suardi at the end of 15th century and, in 1524, was almost entirely painted by Lorenzo Lotto, except from the apse ( frescoed by a still anonymous but very important artist).
The main character on the left wall of the church of Villa Suardi is St. Barbara, known as the protectress against sudden death. A succession of scenes shows the story of the saint, her imposed marriage refusal, the process and the imprisonment, the tortures and her death (she was murdered by her father): the scenes as represented with a great richness of characters, architectures and colors. On both sides a group of heretics of first centuries of Christianity is painted; they are represented, together with the Virgin Mary and other saints, in the plant volutes formed by the vine-shoots that leave from the fingers of a Grapevine- Christ placed in the middle of the wall.
“Ego sum vitis, vos palmites”: this evangelical line, written in gold above the haloed head of the saviour, sounds as an explicit invitation. Higher than this, another sentence now illegible, reported the author, the date and the commissioner of the painting. On the background St. Caterina, martyr of Alexandria of Egypt and St. Mary Magdalene, are represented, is the last waiting for the heavenly food which is to nourish her. The entire cycle of frescoes well represents the preaching of that time against the potential risks of the Protestant Reformation being spread, mostly by the German armies that periodically invaded the Val Cavallina area.

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