page_title: Martinengo Altarpiece
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Martinengo Altarpiece / Description
caption_attribution_description: detail
context_page_description: The Martinengo Altarpiece is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto, finished in 1516. It is housed in the church of Santi Bartolomeo e Stefano in Bergamo in northern Italy.
context_section_description: The subject of the painting is a Holy Conversation, with the Virgin and the Child sitting on a throne surrounded by saints. The scene is set in a majestic architecture perhaps inspired by Bramante style. In the center, where the dome should be, is the tholobate, whose pendentives decorated with Mark and John the Evangelists. Two angels are watching from a balustrade, perhaps inspired by Mantegna's Camera degli Sposi. Two other angels fly over Mary holding her crown.
  The interpretation of the numerous symbols of the picture is disputed. Some of the objects could be taken from Francesco Colonna's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, alluding to the rule of Venice in Bergamo, of which Martinengo was a supporter. The inscription in the upper part, saying Divina Suave, would be a reference to Venice.
  In the lower part, the Virgin sits on a throne having a zoomorphic base, whose lion paws are a reference to St. Mark's Lion, symbol of Venice. The lion is also peeping from behind the throne, on the left. There is a total of ten saints, including St. Alexander, eponymous of the donor, portrayed with a scintillating armor and, perhaps, with the face of Martinengo himself. His wife Barbara is also portrayed next to him, as the saint with the same name.
  The two child angels in the low foreground are a typical element in Lotto's works.
  The work is signed and dated "Laurentius / Lotus / M.D.XVI".
caption: Detail with an angel and the lion.
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