|
The portrait of the collector Andrea Odoni (Hampton Court) gained Lotto the admiration of the historian Vasari. The portrait is a fascinating creation, where Lotto seems to reject his own previous “atonality,” where there was almost no break in the texture or in the chromatism, but rather a “Titianesque” unity, a brush with startling plastic accents. Wonderfully, these accents never get in the way of Lotto’s underlying structure, which in its richness and subtlety seems to be leading us toward the dawn of the Baroque. At the same time, the fluidity of the execution advocates a new economy, an acute sense of the truth, directed mostly towards the subject and expressing its passion for ancient sculpture (no less than 6 sculpted pieces give life to the scene, not counting the object that Odoni holds in his hand). The superb effects of material, offered by the marbles, the overcoat and its lined collar, the semi-darkness of the study, the green harmony of the fabrics, all give the impression that Lotto is striving to develop his work toward an eloquent clarification of means: colors, drawing, composition are simplified. In this new approach, it is possible for us to understand the studies carried out by the contemporary madrigal composers; who, since the activity at the courts of Lorenzo the Magnificent in Florence, and later of Isabella d’Este in Mantua at the end of the 15th century, sought to produce a sincere art, unfettered by formal sophistication. This is the main subject of the frottola writers, whose works are compiled in 11 volumes edited by Petrucci between 1504 and1514, and whose resonances constituted the musical environment of the young Lotto. These resonances were continued by Jacob Obrecht’s work. Both art forms are moving toward the natural revelation of truth. In the madrigals, we can see developing a new way of writing music, close to a syllabic rhythm that will produce verbal intelligibility and the expression of the feeling that accompanies it. In Lotto’s art, the authority of the painter abandons the tumult of ornamentation defeating decorative emphasis, and the confusion of details in order to set forth the psychological reality of the model. In Odoni’s portrait Lotto finds his true voice. The unity of the painting, the readability of its subject are possible because of the single diagonal drawn into the space by Odoni’s body, which is set in a dynamic three-fourths: the ample movement of the arms, the open gesture gather the spectator in, and subtly integrate the model within the space.
But being a restless spirit, without commitment to a single aesthetic path, Lotto is an unpredictable painter. He often returns to his own earlier styles. This faculty of absorption and analysis, of constant evolution, of progression/regression, is also the engine of his activity. Such artistic anguish is expressed in the terrifying portrait of Lucrezia Valier (London, National Gallery). In spite of the young woman’s dour expression, Lotto allows himself no indulgence or idealization. This work is one of his most ambitious portraits, with Lotto’s smooth, polished touch defining reality. The sense is morally instructive. Perhaps commissioned for a wedding, the work is an invitation to marital fidelity, by reminding us that Nec ulla impudica Lucretiæ exemplo vivet: “With Lucrezia’s example, no shameless woman shall exist.” It is a warning to young married women, a wise argument for virtue. The portrait emphasizes the fidelity of the wife.The folds and wrinkles of the papers with the famous phrase quoted in Latin, the movements of the ample dress, of her “slashed sleeves”, the rich effects of the green and the orange-red (two complementary colours that extol one another), show Lotto’s mastery and incomparably skillful observation. The precision of the hairnet, the gesture of teaching, the awkward pose make us tense: they express that nervous harshness and restlessness that never seems to leave the painter’s hand. The cool, almost startling presentation of this lady echoes the raw, chromatic dissonance of contemporary madrigals.
|
|
|
|