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9780300073317

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Reviews

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)

Author Information

David Alan Brown is curator of Italian Renaissance painting at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Peter Humfrey is professor of art history at St. Andrew’s University. Mauro Lucco is professor of art history at the Università di Bologna.

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