Lotto, Lorenzo

(born c. 1480, Venice [Italy]—died 1556, Loreto, Papal States) Italian painter. He worked in several cities other than Venice and developed an idiosyncratic style. His late Renaissance-style work exhibits a preference for opulent colours and a faculty for narrative painting. His nervous temperament is evident in such works as the Crucifixion in Monte San Giusto (1531), with its highly charged mysticism and crowded composition. Toward the end of his life (1554), he became a lay brother at the Santa Casa in Loreto to escape his critics and his debts. Though primarily a religious painter, he is best known today for his psychologically acute portraits.

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