LONDON.- The National Gallery is staging the first-ever exhibition of portraits by the Italian Renaissance artist Lorenzo Lotto. 

Lorenzo Lotto Portraits brings together many of Lotto’s best portraits spanning his entire career from collections around the world. 

These include such masterpieces as the 'Bishop Bernardo de‘ Rossi' (1505) from the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples, united with its striking allegorical cover from the National Gallery of Art, Washington; and the monumental altarpiece of 'The Alms of Saint Antoninus of Florence' (1540–2) from the Basilica Santi Giovanni e Paulo in Venice coming to the UK for the first time. In this painting Lotto not only inserted portraits of members of the commissioning confraternity, but also, highly unusually, paid poor people to sit for him.

Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of Bishop Bernardo de’Rossi, 1505. Oil on panel, 52 x 40 cm, Naples, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte.

Lorenzo Lotto, The Alms of St Antoninus, 1542. Oil on wood, 332 x 235 cm,Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice.

Working during a time of profound change in Europe, Lotto was remarkable for depicting a wide variety of middle-class sitters, including clerics, merchants, artisans, and humanists. 

He portrayed men, women, and children in compositions rich with symbolism and great psychological depth. His works are characterised by expressive sensitivity and immediacy and are also known for their deeply saturated colours and luxuriant handling of paint. 

Born in Venice, Lotto travelled extensively and worked in different parts of Italy, most notably Treviso, Bergamo, Venice, and the Italian Marches. He spent his final years as a lay member of the confraternity of the Holy House at Loreto (1549–56.) In today’s terms, his disposition in the later decades of his life would probably be described as clinically depressed. A melancholic empathy with his sitters is evident in his in late portraits. 

Staged broadly chronologically the exhibition starts with Lotto’s earliest portraits before exploring the work from his most significant periods in Bergamo and Venice and ending with the late paintings. Unusually for a National Gallery exhibition objects related to those he depicted also are being displayed. 

Room one explores Lotto’s work from his time in Treviso (1503–6) and includes the 'Allegory' (1505) from the National Gallery of Art, Washington and the spectacular 'Assumption of the Virgin with Saints Anthony Abbot and Louis of Toulouse' (1506) from the Chiesa Prepositurale e Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta, Asolo. 

Lorenzo Lotto, Allegory of Virtue and Vice, 1505. Oil on panel, 56.5 x 47.2 cm.Washington, National Gallery of Art, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.156.

Lorenzo Lotto, 'Assumption of the Virgin with Saints Anthony Abbot and Louis of Toulouse', 1506. Oil on panel, 175 x 165 cm. Asolo, catedral de Santa Maria Assunta.

Focusing on his Bergamasque period (1513–25), Room two contains the cleverly symbolic 'Lucina Brembati' (about 1520–3) and 'The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, with Niccolò Bonghi' (1523) both from Bergamo’s Accademia Carrara; as well as the 'Portrait of a Married Couple' (1523–4) from the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, which has been cleaned on the occasion of the exhibition. 

Lorenzo Lotto, 'Portrait of Lucina Brembati', about 1520–3. Oil on panel, 52.6 x 44.8 cm. Bergamo, Accademia Carrara - Pinacoteca di Arte Antica.

Lorenzo Lotto, ''Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherines with donor Nicolò Bonghi, 1523. Oil on canvas, 172 x 143 cm. Bergamo, Accademia Carrara - Pinacoteca di Arte Antica.

Lorenzo Lotto, 'Marriage Portrait (Giovanni Maria Cassotti y Laura Assonica?)', c. 1523 - 1524. Oil on canvas, 96 x 116 cm. Saint Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum.

Room three is dedicated to works produced in Venice (1525–49) such as the famous likeness of the Venetian collector 'Andrea Odoni' from the Royal Collection (1527), the National Gallery’s own Portrait of a Woman inspired by Lucretia and the 'Portrait of a Young Man with a Lizard' (1528–30) from the Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice. 

Lorenzo Lotto, 'Portrait of Andrea Odoni', 1527. Oil on canvas, 104.6 x 116.6 cm. The Royal Collection Trust, Hampton Court.

Lorenzo Lotto, 'Portrait of a Lady as Lucretia', c. 1530 - 1533. Oil on canvas, 96.5 x 110.6 cm, London, The National Gallery.

Lorenzo Lotto, 'Portrait of a Gentleman in his Study', 1528-1530. Oil on canvas, 98 x 111 cm, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice.

The final room celebrates the late work and includes the remarkably well preserved and affecting 'Portrait of a Man with a Felt Hat' (1541?) from the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, as well as the altarpiece of 'The Alms of Saint Antoninus of Florence' (1540–2). 

 Lorenzo Lotto, 'Portrait of a Man with a Felt Hat', 1541?, oil on paper, 57.8 x 46.5 cm, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.

Objects relating to the portraits show how the meaning of Lotto’s paintings extends from the sitter to their surroundings. Lotto painted these not so much to reflect a given sitter’s opulence and wealth, but to help tell their story and reflect their identity. Among items on display are a carpet, sculpture, jewellery, clothing, and books. 

Lotto’s reputation has consistently grown since the art historian Bernard Berenson published the first monograph on him in 1895. Writing during the emergence of Freudian psychoanalysis, Berenson saw Lotto as the first modern portraitist because of his interest in reflecting his sitters’ states of mind. 

“He seems always to have been able to define his feelings, emotions and ideals, instead of being a mere highway for them,” said Berenson, “this makes him pre-eminently a psychologist…The portraits all have the interest of personal confessions."

Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of a Young Man, about 1500. Oil on panel, 34.2 × 27.9 cm. Accademia Carrara, Bergamo © Fondazione Accademia Carrara, Bergamo.

Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of a Young Man with a Lamp, c. 1506. Oil on panel, 42.3 x 35.3 cm. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie.

Lorenzo Lotto, 'The Physician Giovanni Agostino della Torre and his Son, Niccolò', about 1515-16. Oil on canvas, 85 x 68.2 cm, NG699, The National Gallery, London.

Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of a Man with a Rosary, c. 1518. Oil on panel, 78.5 x 62 cm. Nivå, The Nivaagaard Collection.

Lorenzo Lotto, Micer Marsilio Cassotti and his wife Faustina, 1523. Oil on canvas, 71 x 84 cm, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado.

Lorenzo Lotto, 'Virgin and Child with Saints Jerome, Sebastian, Nicholas of Bari, Anthony Abbot and Catherine of Alexandria', 1524, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica di Palazzo Barberini, Rome.

Lorenzo Lotto, 'Portrait of a Dominican Friar (Marcantonio Luciani?)', 1526, Musei Civici di Treviso.

Lorenzo Lotto, Triple Portrait of a Goldsmith, c. 1530. Oil on canvas, 52 x 79 cm. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie.

Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of a Man, c. 1535. Oil on panel, 118 x 105 cm. Rome, Galleria Borghese.

Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of Giovanni della Volta with his Wife and Children, 1547. Oil on canvas, 104.5 x 138 cm. London, National Gallery, Bequeathed by Miss Sarah Solly, 1879.

Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of an Elderly Gentleman with Gloves (liberale da Pinedel), 1542 - 1544. Oil on canvas, 90 x 75 cm. Milano, Pinacoteca di Brera.

Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of a Young Man, about 1500 (detail). Oil on panel, 34.2 × 27.9 cm. Accademia Carrara, Bergamo © Fondazione Accademia Carrara, Bergamo.