Lorenzo Lotto - Painting the Eerie with Elegance

Lorenzo Lotto – Angel Annunciating 1527 – oil on wood, 70 X 55 cm., Church of Sts. Vincent and Alexander, Ponteranica. Mannerism was a movement that challenged the standards of the Renaissance while simultaneously preserving many of them. Here we see a lovely angel contained within a delicate aura of light. However her feathery, leathery wings are a bit eerie, to say the least!Italian artist Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480-1556) was born and trained in Venice. Yet, his work was out of step with such contemporaries as Titian and Tintoretto--two of the great masters of the Venetian Renaissance. Lotto’s vision was much more subtle--sometimes even a bit eerie--and his work is very much in sync with the tastes of today. Now regarded by many as a Mannerist--Lotto was clearly an artist way ahead of his time. His art strikes deep chords in us--and it’s pleasing to know that scholarship is finally catching up with this important figure in the history of art.