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Lorenzo Lotto, 'The Virgin and Child with Saints', 1522

About the work

No other Renaissance painting of the Virgin and Child with saints shows the naked infant Christ sitting on a pillow on a coffin. This unique addition indicates Christ’s acceptance of and conquest over death. Meditation on Christ’s death encouraged understanding of his suffering for humanity’s redemption.

A tear falls from the elderly Saint Jerome’s eye as he clasps his hand to his chest and contemplates a figure of the crucified Christ. Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, wearing the black habit of the Augustinian Order, has a sacred radiance glowing on his chest and holds a lily.

There is another better-preserved and higher-quality version of this painting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Lotto appears to have worked on both pictures at the same time, drawing and resolving the composition in the Boston version and then reproducing it on the National Gallery’s canvas. The pictures were probably painted towards the end of the period that Lotto spent mainly in Bergamo.

Key facts

Full title
The Virgin and Child with Saints Jerome and Nicholas of Tolentino
Artist
Lorenzo Lotto
Artist dates
about 1480 - 1556/7
Date made
1522
Medium and support
oil on canvas
Dimensions
91 × 75.4 cm
Inscription summary
Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit
Bequeathed by Martin Colnaghi, 1908
Inventory number
NG2281
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection
Previous owners
Frame
17th-century Florentine Frame

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

More works by Lorenzo Lotto

Giovanni Agostino della Torre and his Son, Niccolò
Giovanni Agostino della Torre and his Son, Niccolò
Lorenzo Lotto
Giovanni Agostino della Torre was a distinguished doctor and citizen of Bergamo. He had taught at the University of Padua, and the costume he wears is official or academic dress. In 1510 he was elected prior of Bergamo’s College of Physicians, an office he held until his death.The texts on the tw...
Not on display
Portrait of a Woman inspired by Lucretia
Portrait of a Woman inspired by Lucretia
Lorenzo Lotto
A sumptuously dressed young woman holds a drawing of the Roman heroine Lucretia. The story of Lucretia, who lived in the early sixth century BC, is told in Livy’s History of Rome. Prince Sextus Tarquinius crept to Lucretia’s room at night and raped her. She told her father and husband, who were u...
Not on display
Portrait of Giovanni della Volta with his Wife and Children
Portrait of Giovanni della Volta with his Wife and Children
Lorenzo Lotto
Lotto wrote in his account book that he gave a painting on 23 September 1547 to ‘Giovanni della Volta, my landlord’. He describes it as ‘a painting with his portrait from life and that of his wife with two children, altogether comprising four figures’. The portrait may have been painted in lieu o...
Not on display