ANTICHI FATTI LOMBARDI. LONGHI, LOTTO, AND THE PAINTING IN BRESCIA
ANTICHI FATTI LOMBARDI. LONGHI, LOTTO, AND THE PAINTING IN BRESCIA

Summary/Abstract: In his multifaceted study of Italian painting, Roberto Longhi was particularly sensitive to thespecial role of eccentric, singular painters. One of these was Lorenzo Lotto, whom the Italianresearcher considers a real artistic revelation of the first decade of the sixteenth century. Fewpainters evade scholarly “stylistic categorisation’ with as much adroitness as Lorenzo Lotto,whose work stands out as radically innovative. His individual style evolved under the influence ofthe painting traditions of Venice, but also Central Italy and Northern Europe. The article attemptsto discuss another great, less known and clearly distinct artistic tradition contributing to theuniqueness of Lotto’s art – that of Venetian mainland, known as terraferma, with the Lombardcities conquered by Venice, Brescia foremost. Although Lorenzo Lotto was the heir of GiovanniBellini and Antonella da Messina, the most recognisable features contributing to the uniquenessof Lotto’s art are rooted in the same ground as the art of artists from Brescia. The essay focuseson the singularity of Brescia’s painting and its affinity with Lotto’s artistic language.

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