Allegory of Chastity
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The painting of the Allegory of Chastity was originally created as a portrait cover for the bishop of Treviso, Bernardo de' Rossi. At the time, the bishop created a close-knit group of artists that he utilized to create works of art, which included Lorenzo Lotto. Lotto, who was picked for the commission, was born in Venice and remained culturally influenced by the city for the rest of his artistic career. He studied under Raphael and morphed his style to a more fluid and color rich approach [1]. He was not a very popular or even respected artist in his time. As Antoni Morassi points out, one person wrote to him that his painting abilities were minimal at best, but that his religious devotion was admirable [2]. Lotto captured religion in many of his paintings, which is not limited to the Allegory. Despite being just a portrait cover, Lotto uses the canvas to emphasize the contrast of human morality, between purity and desire.
Allegory of Chastity visualizes the moral struggle and dichotomy between virtue and vice. Lotto paints a scenic view in the background of the image, with a sunset behind the mountains and trees along the sides. In the center of the image lies a maiden in white and gold clothing, sitting in the grass. Paul Holberton writes that the cherub up above pours some flower petals on the woman [3]. This highlights her divine and idyllic femininity. She is the focus of the painting due to her spatially centered position but also because she is where the light of the painting comes from. Lotto symbolizes the idea of chastity through the woman as she is the source of light in the painting. In addition, the color of her clothes being white and gold represent the ideals of innocence and purity. Meanwhile, the two figures on the bottom portion of the image are satyrs. The female satyr gazes at the male, alluding to her lust and desire. The male satyr drinks from his jug of wine which represents a different vice of drunkenness.
Lotto utilizes composition and lines to emphasize the ideals of human purity and desire. Lotto divides the painting into 2 sections: the maiden and cupid as one unit and the satyrs as the other. He also creates a triangle formation through the painting of a hill to represent the allegorical figure at the top, the most pure and divine, while the satyrs are below, representing desire and human vice. These compositional features further highlight the tug of war between vice and virtue that Lotto communicates as the woman and cherub represent chastity and the satyrs represent evil and lust. The idea of fusing portraits with religious themes was not uncommon during the Renaissance [4]. Lorenzo Lotto was commisioned to create this work in order to represent the Bishop's views of the ideal Christian and what makes someone morally righteous. Artists, especially Lotto, utilized their canvases in any way they could to explore and paint their views on human morality.
[1] “Lorenzo Lotto,” Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed September 18, 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lorenzo-Lotto
[2] Antonio Morassi, "The Lotto Exhibition in Venice," The Burlington Magazine 95, no. 606 (1953): 290.
[3] Paul Holberton, "Classicism and Invention: Botticelli’s Mythologies in Our Time and Their Time," Botticelli Past and Present (2019): 62.
[4] “Allegory of Chastity,” National Gallery of Art, accessed September 18, 2020, https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.288.html
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Source
Holberton, Paul. "Classicism and Invention: Botticelli’s Mythologies in Our Time and Their Time." In Botticelli Past and Present, edited by Debenedetti Ana and Elam Caroline, 53-72. London: UCL Press, 2019.
Morassi, Antonio. "The Lotto Exhibition in Venice." The Burlington Magazine 95, no. 606 (1953): 290-98.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2020, January 01). Lorenzo Lotto. Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lorenzo-Lotto
The National Gallery of Art. (n.d.). Allegory of Chastity. Retrieved September 18, 2020, from https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.288.html
Image Source: Lotto, L. (n.d.). Allegory of Chastity [Digital image]. Retrieved September 18, 2020, from https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.288.html
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