Lotto and one of his daughters ( Oil on canvas signed, Bassano school 17th century)
The oil on canvas we present is inspired by the biblical story of Lot narrated in the book of Genesis, of which it captures the central moment: two angels in the guise of beautiful young men (one of whom is depicted in the foreground) arrive in Sodom threatening divine punishment for the immoral conduct of its inhabitants.
A consideration, so as not to infringe the reality of foreign conflicts, the object of "special" attention by the inhabitants of Sodom, Lot, to protect the angels, proposed in the same way next to the father).
The choice of the Old Testament subject itself well explains the constant attention that Bassano dedicated to the representation of scenes from the Old Testament, a sensitivity which did not escape his workshop, to which the canvas in question can rightly be ascribed.
A turning point in the pictorial education of the artist from Bassano is in fact represented by his approach, between 1530 and 1540, to the plasticity of Pordenone, an experience of which a biblical subject bears traces: "Samson and the Philistines" today in Dresden (Gemäldelgalerie).
The Old Testament constant continues to mark the pictorial production of the Bassano, allowing us at the same time to trace the main coordinates in terms of workshop influences: we thus move from the Titian-esque "Susanna and the Elders" of Nîmes (Musée des Beaux-Arts) , a "Moses" and the burning bush "of the following year, now preserved in the Uffizi up to the far-reaching scene "Departure of Abraham and his daughters for the land of Canaan" (Escorial).
As with the aforementioned masterpieces by the Venetian master , our canvas similarly bears traces of a pictorial eclecticism which, taking its cue from Pordenone and the mannerism of Salviati, does not appear to be alien to the suggestions of Lorenzo Lotto, whose chromaticism and stylistic features (a strongly static hieraticism, still little animated , which evokes the well-known “Annunciation” ) seem to refer the angel who is the object of the Epiphany to Lot and his daughter.
At the same time, valuable Baroque suggestions are welcomed in the group of "cupids" behind the Lot-daughter couple, an iconographic motif that helps to attenuate the dramatic tension of the subject, expertly balanced by the shadowy tones of the background .
Overall, the interest and composure and balanced meditation , signed lower left, is precisely the fact that it can be considered as a vast iconographic excursus of all the main aesthetic suggestions that have contributed to creating the fame of Bassano's painting through a formative period in which the Old Testament subject played a decisive role.
Dimensions: L 132 X 113
