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.
Accession Number
1939.1.147
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
overall: 42.9 × 33.7 cm (16 7/8 × 13 1/4 in.) | framed: 55.25 × 46.36 × 5.72 cm (21 3/4 × 18 1/4 × 2 1/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Samuel H. Kress Collection
Tags
Painting Renaissance (1400–1599) Oil Painting Panel Painting Italian
Background & Context
Background Story
Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480-1556) was a Venetian painter known for the psychological depth and quirky originality that distinguish his work from the more serene manner of his Venetian contemporaries. Allegory of Chastity from c. 1505 is an early work that demonstrates the original imagination that would distinguish Lotto from other Venetian painters throughout his career. The allegory of chastity—depicted through symbolic figures rather than a narrative subject—allows Lotto to exercise his talent for original compositional invention, and the c. 1505 date places this in his early period, when he was developing the psychological depth and original imagination that would make him one of the most distinctive painters of the Venetian Renaissance.
Cultural Impact
Allegory of Chastity is important in Lotto's early development because it demonstrates the original imagination that would distinguish him from other Venetian painters. The allegory subject—symbolic figures rather than narrative—allows Lotto to exercise his talent for compositional invention, and the 1505 painting shows the psychological depth and quirky originality that would make him one of the most distinctive painters of the Venetian Renaissance, different from the more serene manner of Bellini and Giorgione.
Why It Matters
Allegory of Chastity is Lotto's original imagination emerging: an allegory depicted through symbolic figures rather than narrative, showing the compositional invention and psychological depth that would distinguish him from other Venetian painters. The c. 1505 early work previews the quirky originality that would make Lotto one of the most distinctive painters of the Venetian Renaissance.
