Lorenzo Lotto’s fresco cycle created to protect against flooding
There are some people won’t walk under ladders for superstitious reasons and then there are others, like Count Gian Battista Suardi from the 16th century, who decided to have his chapel frescoed by the maestro Lorenzo Lotto instead, as a means of obtaining divine protection from imminent flooding. (This was perhaps also a metaphor for the Protestant “invasion”.) Today the Count’s villa and its splendid park remain un-submerged and together with these, there is still the marvellous cycle of frescoes in a little chapel. The frescoes contain sacred, esoteric and alchemical references all deriving from the extraordinary and enigmatic imagination of the Venetian artist Lotto, who also painted precious altarpieces and designed the intarsia of the choir-stalls in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo.
As many as 700 years ago, anyone crossing the Val Cavallina in order to reach lake Iseo would have come across the chapel, which later became part of the possessions of the Count Suardi. He commissioned this propitiatory cycle of frescoes when he heard an astrologer’s predictions of deluges and floods to come. These may have been literal or possibly an allusion to the invasion of Protestantism.
In order to realise his project, Count Suardi organised what would today be called an artist’s residency for the painting of the little Oratorio located in the park attached to his villa. Lorenzo Lotto was the artist he invited to set himself up in the country estate at Trescore Balneario. Lotto was one of the great Venetian artists of the High Renaissance and was working in Bergamo at that time.
The chapel is rectangular in shape and rustic, with wood beams and a bucolic atmosphere that the artist carried over into his frescoes, populating them with ordinary country folk, while painting the ceiling with interlacing vine branches.
It is dedicated to Saints Barbara and Bridget, the main protagonists in the cycle of frescoes that was finished by the artist in 1524. On the left wall, Lotto depicts the tragic death of Saint Barbara on the orders of her father after she refused an arranged marriage, a drama painted by the artist as if in technicolor, with vivid detail and luminous tonality.
The leading character on the right-hand side is Saint Bridget, protector of agriculture and the life of the field. The portrayal of her story is interwoven with numerous iconographic and symbolic references intended to counter Protestantism, which was seen at the time as a threat that the German army brought with it as it periodically invaded the Val Cavallina.
Lorenzo Lotto and his assistant
A covered passageway connecting the Oratory with the villa of the Suardis was constructed in the 18th century, together with a bell-tower and small sacristy. One still encounters Lorenzo Lotto himself today, dressed as a hunter and welcoming visitors, in a self-portrait at the entrance to the chapel. He is depicted alongside a feathered friend whose purpose was to draw other birds into traps: a little owl.
Visit www.lorenzolottotrescore.it to learn about the programme of events organised in 2024, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Lorenzo Lotto’s work, in Trescore Balneario.
VISIT INFORMATION:
– Guided tours of Lorenzo Lotto’s frescoes in the Suardi Oratory are possible for the period
from 1st March to 30th November;
– Guided tours take place EXCLUSIVELY BY BOOKING, by calling +39 035944777, or by sending an email to info@prolocotrescore.it or by calling +39 3290064989 (from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.);
– Individual guided tours every Sunday by appointment (maximum 25 people):
first visit from 3 p.m. to 3.45 p.m;
possibly a second visit from 4.15 p.m. to 5 p.m.;
– Guided individual and group tours during the week on request, either in the morning or in the afternoon, depending on the visitors’ needs, the availability of our guides, and the constitution of a group of at least 5 and a maximum of 25 people. The group can also be formed by the office by combining several requests submitted by individuals;
– For bookings, we kindly ask for a few days’ notice;
– Each visit has an approximate duration of 45 minutes;
– Visits are accompanied by a guide, whose services are included in the ticket price;
– It is advisable to arrive at the site at least 10 minutes before the booked time so as not to hinder the correct start of the visit at the scheduled time;
– Access to the Oratory is through the Pro Loco Trescore – Infopoint Valcavallina office;
– IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN TO TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS IN THE PARK AND INSIDE THE SUARDI ORATORY.
We thank the Suardi family for their availability and permission to access the Suardi Oratory.
Promotional material by Proloco di Trescore Balneario.
