The Recanati Polyptych (Italian: ''Polittico di Recanati'') is an oil-on-panel painting by the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...

painter

Lorenzo Lotto Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480 – 1556/57) was an Italian Renaissance painter, draughtsman, and illustrator, traditionally placed in the Venetian school, though much of his career was spent in other north Italian cities. He painted mainly altarpie ...

, executed in 1506–1508 and housed in the Civic Museum of Villa Colloredo Mels,

Recanati Recanati () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Macerata, in the Italian region of Marche. Recanati was founded around 1150 AD from three pre-existing castles. In 1290 it proclaimed itself an independent republic and, in the 15th c ...

, 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 in Recanati. The work was seen and described complete and in situ by

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ideol ...

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 Eliza Vere Foster (Cheltenham, 25 July 1802 – Bergamo, 4 October 1888) was an English author and literary translator from Italian, Spanish and German. Biography After studying classic and modern languages, and already a widow at 30, on 7 ...

, 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 Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Mary (mother of Jesus), Blessed Virgin Mary cradling the mortal body of Jesus Christ after his Descent from the Cross. It is most often found in sculpture. ...

''. 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 In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior Long gallery, gallery or corridor, often on an upper level, sometimes on the ground level of a building. The corridor is open to the elements because its outer wall is only parti ...

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 – 29 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 Linear or point-projection perspective () is one of two types of graphical projection perspective in the graphic arts; the other is parallel projection. Linear perspective is an approximate representation, generally on a flat surface, of a ...

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 A scapular () is a Western Christian garment suspended from the shoulders. There are two types of scapulars, the monastic and devotional scapular; both forms may simply be referred to as "scapular". As an object of popular piety, a scapular ...

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