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Lorenzo Lotto Venetian, c. 1480 - 1556/1557 Allegory of Virtue and Vice, 1505 oil on panel, 56.5 x 42.2 cm (22 1/4 x 16 5/8 in.) Samuel H. Kress Collection 1939.1.156 |
Object 5 of 7
This small panel originally functioned as the cover of a portrait. Covers not only protected the painting underneath but also allowed the artist to expand on particular facets of the patron’s personality or concerns. This allegorical scene covered a portrait, now in Naples, of Bernardo de’ Rossi, bishop of Treviso. (Lotto’s Allegory of Chastity was probably a portrait cover as well.)
Rossi had only recently survived an assassination attempt when Lorenzo Lotto painted this. The cover presents a view of the bishop’s virtue and perseverance—and the ultimate reward for those who choose a difficult path over more immediate and worldly gratifications. The panel is clearly divided into two halves by the central tree. On the right side, a drunken satyr peers into a wine pitcher, the intoxicating liquid already spilled around him. His surroundings are lush and green, but in the distance a storm rises and a ship sinks below the waves. On the other side, which includes Rossi’s coat of arms leaning against a tree, an industrious child busies himself with tools. Here, the land is parched and rocky, but in the distance the same child, now with an angel’s wings, climbs a hill into a brilliant radiance. Even the tree sprouts new life, but on the left side only. This might refer to Job 14:7: “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again.” Bishop Rossi, like Job beset by troubles, would also flourish through steadfast virtue.
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