Follower of Lorenzo Lotto

Commissioned for the Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie, Bergamo, until the church's destruction in 1856 when detached and removed to;
Bonomi Collection, Casa Bonomi, Bergamo;
With Steffanoni, Bergamo, from whom acquired by;
A. August Healy, for 2,000 francs, on behalf of; 
The Brooklyn Museum, New York, by 24 November 1911, inventory no. 11.515.

A. Pasta, Le Pitture notabili di Bergamo che sono esposte alla vista del pubblico, Bergamo 1775, p.105;
G. Marenzi, Guida di Bergamo 1824, Bergamo 1985, p. 146 (as possibly by Lorenzo Lotto);
G. Finazzi, Dell'antica chiesa di S. Maria delle Grazie in Bergamo, Bergamo 1863, p. 18 (as possibly by Lorenzo Lotto);
B. Berenson, Lorenzo Lotto, complete edition, London 1956, p. 62 (as Lotto with erroneous Trescore Balneario provenance);
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Venetian School, vol. I, London 1957, p. 101 (again as Lotto with erroneous Trescore Balneario provenance);
B. Fredericksen and F. Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections, Cambridge, Massachusettes 1972, p. 602 (as Attributed to Lorenzo Lotto);
C. Barbieri, "Un Lotto Scomparso?" in Osservatorio delle Arti, rivista semestrale dell'Accademia Carrara Bergamo, December 1989 Bergamo, p. 22 - 31

This dismounted fresco was published Berenson in his 1956, erroneously stated as having once adorned the walls of the Villa Suardi oratorio Trascore Balineario, Lombardi.¹  The oratorio was frescoed by Lorenzo Lotto in 1524 and Berenson maintained the present work must have occupied a space on one of its walls, now left empty by its removal, venturing that the central figure, with quill poised in his hand, may even be a self-portrait of Lotto himself.²    

In 1989, however, Costanza Barbieri published an article dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, contradicting Berenson’s account of the fresco’s provenance and providing compelling evidence linking the work to the Observant Franciscan church and convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Bergamo, destroyed in 1856.³   Barbieri cites Andrea Pasta’s 1775 guide (see under Literature), describing numerous frescoes in Santa Maria delle Grazie, giving specific attention and praise to an Immaculate Conception,

“Ma di lunga mano migliori ƒono le Pitture, che ƒi veggono nella prima colonna all'entrare in Chieƒa , rappreƒentanti la Madonna tenente colla deƒtra un libro, e colla ƒiniƒtra il bambino , e ƒotto varj divolti, umonini, e donne..."⁴

Furthermore, a later reference is made to the fresco in an 1863 guide to the former church by Giovanni Finazzi (see under Literature), the author prints a lithograph of an Immaculate Conception by Cesare Maironi, identical to the present composition, which he describes as having decorated a monumental column in the principal nave of Santa Maria delle Grazie.  The lithograph also shows an inscription on the upper and lower edges of the fresco, lost in the painting’s present format, reading: "Maria ab omni peccato originali ac actuali immunis fuit" and "Ex dovotione ad ornamentum scolae."⁵

Prior to the demolition of the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie the paintings were removed and the Immaculate Conception was bought by A. August Healy in 1911 on behalf of the Brooklyn Museum along with five other Lombard frescoes.  A handwritten entry in the museum’s inventory, dated 24 November of that same year, lists the painting, once more with the erroneous Trascore Balineario provenance, as having been bought from Steffanoni, a Bergamo art dealer, for 2,000 francs.  

The surface of the painting’s lower section is criss-crossed with centuries of graffiti among which the date 1566 appears, scratched into the red gown of the leftmost figure.  While the authorship of the work remains a mystery, in part due to the painting’s state of preservation, its provenance appears clearer and Barbieri dates the painting to the 1540’s, thus eliminating the possibility of Lotto’s involvement owing to his removal to Venice by 1525.   We can instead ascribe it to a close follower who, while influenced by the Lombard painter, worked in Bergamo a decade or so later.

1.  See B. Berenson under Literature, op.cit., p.62.
2.  Ibid.
3.  See C. Barbieri under Literature.
4.  See A. Pasta under Literature, translates: “Yet the best by far, are the pictures on the first column upon entering the church, depicting the Madonna holding a book with her a right hand, and with her left the Child, and beneath are various devotees, men and women…”
5.  See G. Finazzi under Literature, op. cit. p.18, reproduced inside cover page.