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Overview

This small panel by Lotto can be dated to early in his career because of stylistic similarities to Allegory of Virtue and Vice, also in the National Gallery, signed by Lotto and dated 1505. That work originally functioned as the cover of a portrait, now in Naples, of Bernardo de' Rossi, bishop of Treviso. The Allegory of Chastity probably served a similar purpose. Covers not only protected the painting underneath but also allowed the artist to expand on particular facets of the patron's personality or concerns.

The subject of the panel has been the cause for much discussion. A variety of interpretations have been suggested, including the classical, Plutus and the Nymph Rhodos, and the literary, Petrarch's poetic vision of Laura. A cupid showers her with flower petals, while a female satyr gazes around a tree at a male satyr, who is more interested in his jug of wine. The composition is divided horizontally in two parts, the maiden and cupid seen on one level, the satyrs on a lower, baser level. It can be read as a choice between virtue and pleasure, virtus and voluptas, the chaste maiden in repose, or the satyr couple, symbolic in the Renaissance of lust and even evil. It was considered quite appropriate to associate such moralizing themes with portraits.

Provenance

Castelbarco collection, Milan; (Anonymous dealer, Milan); sold 1887 as Hans Rottenhammer to Sir William Martin Conway [1856-1937], Allington Castle, Kent, England; (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence and Rome); sold 4 October 1934 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[1] gift 1939 to NGA.

[1] The bill of sale was for three paintings (copy in NGA curatorial files). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/191.

Exhibition History
1894
Exhibition of Venetian Art, The New Gallery, London, 1894-1895, no. 80, as Sacred and Profane Love.
1905
Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1905, no. 18.
1914
The Venetian School. Pictures by Titian and his Contemporaries. Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1914, no. 21, plate XIV, as The Maiden's Dream.
1928
International Exhibition: Antiques and Works of Art Organized by the Daily Telegraph at Olympia, London, 1928, no. X29, as Danae: The Maiden's Dream.
1930
Exhibition of Italian Art: 1200-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1930, no. 403, as A Maiden's Dream (no. 345, pl. XCCCI in commemorative catalogue published 1931; not in souvenir catalogue).
1940
Night Scenes, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, 1940, no. 11, as A Maiden's Dream.
1979
Berenson and the Connoisseurship of Italian Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1979, no. 21, repro.
1988
The Pastoral Landscape: The Legacy of Venice, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988-1989, no. 14, fig. 67.
1997
Lorenzo Lotto: Rediscovered Master of the Renaissance, Natl. Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti, Bergamo; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 1997-1999, no. 5, repro., as Allegory of Chastity ("Maiden's Dream").
2006
Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2006-2007, no. 37, repro. as Allegory of Chastity ("Maiden's Dream").
2011
Lorenzo Lotto, Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, 2011, no. 51, repro.
2013
Il Sogno nel Rinascimento [Florence], La Renaissance et le rêve: Bosch, Véronèse, Greco... [Paris], Galleria Palatina--Palazzo Piti, Florence; Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, 2013-2014, no. 27, repro.
Bibliography
1941
National Gallery of Art. Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. Washington, 1941: 114, no. 258, as A Maiden's Dream.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 244, repro. 138.
1944
Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: repro. no. 89
1945
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 96, repro.
1952
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Great Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1952: 56, color repro.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 161, repro.
1960
The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 23, repro.
1961
Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 100, color repro. pl. 90.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 303, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 78.
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:168, color repro.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 68, repro.
1968
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 158-159, fig. 386.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 200, repro.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:275-277; 2:pl. 191, as Plutus and the Nymph Rhodos.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 191, no. 219, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 234, repro.
1992
National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1992: 27, repro.
1992
Pozzolo, Enrico Maria dal. "Laura tra Polia e Berenice di Lorenzo Lotto." Artibus et Historiae 25 (1992): 103-127, repro.
1997
Lorenzo Lotto: Rediscovered Master of the Renaissance. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti, Bergamo; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 1997-1999: no. 5.
1998
Colalucci, Francesco. Bergamo Negli Anni di Lotto: Pittura, Guerra e Società. Bergamo, 1998: 113-115, 122, repro.
1998
Shefer, Elaine. "Dreams/Visions." In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 1:259.
2002
Jugie, Sophie. “Consultation sur place” card for Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait de femme. Musée des Beaux Arts, Dijon. Dijon, 2002: verso, color fig. 6.
2013
The Editors. "Listings: Agenda." Apollo 117, no. 609 (May 2013): 21, color repro.
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