The Recanati Polyptych (Italian: ''Polittico di Recanati'') is an oil-on-panel painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto, executed in 1506–1508 and housed in the

Civic Museum of Villa Colloredo Mels Villa Colloredo Mels is a suburban palace located on Via Gregorio XII, on the western edge of the urban center of Recanati, province of Macerata, Marche, Italy. It presently houses the civic archeologic and art museum of the town. History The vil ...

, Recanati, Italy. The work is dated and signed ''Laurent usLotus MDVIII''. Lorenzo Lotto 007

Lotto began to work on the piece in 1506 as a devotional for the church of

San Domenico San Domenico may refer to: Catholic saints * Dominic de Guzmán (1170-1221), Spanish priest and founder of the Dominican Order * San Domenico di Sora (951-1031), Italian abbot, patron saint of Villalago Churches * San Domenico, Arezzo (Basilica ...

in Recanati. The work was seen and described complete and in situ by Giorgio Vasari in his ''Vite'', where he wrote that Lotto "was still young and followed partly the manner of the Bellini, partly that of Giorgione".Lives of Seventy of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects
Volume 3, by Giorgio Vasari, Mrs. Jonathan Foster, Edwin Howland Blashfield, page 311. By 1861, the polyptych was disassembled, but was later recomposed and transferred to the Communal Art Gallery. San Domenico still contains a Lotto fresco depicting ''St Vincent Ferrer''.

Description

The polyptych includes a larger altarpiece in the center, flanked by two smaller ones in the same shape. At the top are two side panels with saints, and a top rectangular one depicting the '' Pietà''. The polyptych scheme, related to a 15th-century old-fashioned scheme, was perhaps chosen by the friars of the convent. Lotto developed it into a single composition, at least in the lower panels, with a scene set under a loggia with a coffered

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

in center and two minor vaults at the sides, while in the background is a landscape representation. The niches in the background, featuring Byzantine-style mosaics, are inspired by earlier works by

Giovanni Bellini Giovanni Bellini (; c. 1430 – 26 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father ...

, while the checkerboard pavement is an example of knowledge of the geometrical perspective introduced by the Italian Renaissance in the 15th century. The panels are: *''Madonna with Child, Angels and Saints'' (center, 227x108 cm) *''Saints Thomas of Aquino and Flavian'' (left, 155x67 cm) *''Saints Peter of Verona and Vitus'' (right, 155x67 cm) *''Saints Lucy and Vincent Ferrer'' (upper left, 67x67 cm) *''Saints Catherine of Siena and Sigismund'' (upper right, 67x67 cm) *''Pietà'' (top, 80x108 cm) The presence of Dominican saints is connected to the order who held the church, while Flavian and Vitues are the patrons saints of Recanati. Saint Dominic himself is portrayed in the central panel while receiving the white

scapular The scapular (from Latin ''wikt:scapula#Latin, scapulae'', "shoulders") is a Western Christianity, Western Christian garment suspended from the shoulders. There are two types of scapulars, the Monasticism, monastic and Catholic devotions, devot ...

from the Virgin. Next to Dominic are two little musician angels, who are scared by him.

References

Sources

* {{Lorenzo Lotto 1508 paintings Paintings of the Madonna and Child by Lorenzo Lotto Paintings in Marche Recanati

Description

See also

References

Sources