Алтарь Мартиненго

In May 1516 Lorenzo Lotto put his name to a contract in Bergamo for the biggest altarpiece he would ever paint. The man paying for it, Alessandro Martinengo Colleoni, had just chosen this church as his family's burial place, and he wanted a crowd worthy of it. Lotto gave him the Virgin and Child enthroned among ten saints, a Holy Conversation staged like a gathering of real people rather than stiff icons. Saint Alexander stands in gleaming armour, and his face may be the donor's own. Look at the throne's base, carved with lion's paws, a quiet nod to the Lion of Saint Mark and the Venice that then ruled Bergamo. He was paid 500 ducats for it, and it took him three years to finish.