Fourth Dialogue “Around Lotto”
From 30 March the Pinacoteca di Brera will be hosting a new and highly original dialogue among masterpieces in the history of art: “Around Lotto” will be showcasing paintings from the museum’s own collection in dialogue with other “guest” pictures.
The Brera’s Portrait of Laura da Pola, Portrait of Febo da Brescia, Portrait of a Gentleman with Gloves (Liberale da Pinedel) and Portrait of a Man, which constitute some of Lorenzo Lotto’s finest work and indeed some of the loftiest masterpieces of Renaissance portraiture in general, will be interacting with the same painter’s Portrait of a Young Gentleman (Cristoforo Rovero) from the Accademia in Venice, a “sister” institution in that it too, like Brera, was founded by Napoleon in 1807.
Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of a Gentleman, 1540s, Oil on canvas. Oggioni bequest 1855, cm 115 × 98
Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of Febo da Brescia, 1543–1544, Oil on canvas. Donated by Victor Emanuel II 1860, cm 90,5 x 75,5.
Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of a Gentleman with the Gloves (Liberale da Pinedel?), 1543 (?), Oil on canvas. Donated by Victor Emanuel II 1860
In addition to the four paintings by Lorenzo Lotto, another eight paintings in the Pinacoteca’s collection are to be rehung as part of this new “kaleidoscope of portraits”.
In the words of Maria Cristina Passoni, who has curated the exhibition in conjunction with Francesco Frangi, these portraits “are as revealing as a private diary, fuelling our interest in discovering the identity and the history of these sitters who offer themselves so candidly to our gaze”.
The portraits in Room XIX will include G. B. Moroni’s Portrait of Antono Navagero, Sofonisba Anguissola’s Self-portrait.
This stimulating debate will involve a change in the layout of Room XIX (previously the home of work by the school of Leonardo, its paintings temporarily moved to the Museo Poldi Pezzoli to hang alongside kindred pictures).
Dialogue curated by Francesco Frangi and Maria Cristina Passoni.
The Sense of the Portrait:
from Lotto to the Selfie
Brera’s new dialogue “around” Lotto prompts us today to reflect on a highly topical issue, the portrait, the self-portrait, or the way we look at others and the way we look at ourselves.
Portraits depict people, of course, but what do they really show? Portraits are neither just depictions of the way people look nor mere courtly flattery.
A portrait can depict the sitter’s political power, confirm and consolidate their public impage, communicate their importance or even portray their deepest private feelings.
#lottoritratto
With the inauguration of the Fourth Dialogue: Around Lotto, our Instagram page will be launching a new photographic competition designed to test your skill as a portrait artist.
We challenge you to become like Lorenzo Lotto and to illustrate your relationship with someone special by becoming “dialogue portrait artists”.
Take a photo of someone you’re fond of (and who’s fond of you!) to illustrate the bond you feel with them, then post it on Instagram using the hashtag #Lottoritratto by 31 May 2017!
We’ll be publishing one of the best photographs submitted on our official page every week, and at the end of the competition the winner will receive a prize, the nature of which we’ll be revealing on the opening day of the Fourth Dialogue exhibition.
