Church of Sts Vincent and Alexander, Ponteranica

Ponteranica is a village in the hills just north of Bergamo, and its parish church, dedicated to Saint Vincent and to Saint Alexander, the patron of Bergamo, still keeps the polyptych Lorenzo Lotto painted for it. The six panels sit in two rows. Above, Christ the Redeemer stands between the angel and the Virgin of the Annunciation. Below, John the Baptist is flanked by Saints Peter and Paul. The local confraternity of the Body of Christ commissioned the work, helped by Giovanni Belli, an acquaintance of the painter who had become mayor of Ponteranica. Carpentry for the wooden structure began in 1518, and Lotto signed and dated the panels 1522. A crack in the wood had long hidden the last digit of that date, and only the restoration finished in 2011 settled it.