The story
In 1554 Lorenzo Lotto, the Venetian painter, then in his seventies, gave himself and his belongings to the Holy House of Loreto, the shrine built around what tradition holds is the Virgin Mary's house from Nazareth. He became an oblate there, a lay member living in the shrine's service, and he died in Loreto around 1556. He had already been sending pictures for some years, and the museum now keeps eight of his late works, almost all painted between 1549 and 1556.
They are the reason most art lovers climb to the upper floors of the Apostolic Palace beside the basilica. Among them are the Baptism of Christ, Christ and the Adulteress, Saint Michael driving out Lucifer and the Sacrifice of Melchizedek. The Presentation of Christ in the Temple is usually counted among the very last paintings of his life.
The rest of the 28 rooms hold the shrine's old treasure, the gifts made to the Holy House over the centuries. There are Flemish tapestries woven from Raphael's cartoons, Renaissance majolica, goldsmiths' work and furniture, along with paintings by Simon Vouet, the French Baroque painter, and by Pomarancio, who frescoed part of the basilica itself.
