The High Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries produced many masters, so many that some of the very best still did not make it to the top. Enter Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556). Lotto was born in Venice in the time of the acknowledged greats of Giovanni Bellini and Giorgione, from whom he took his early inspiration, and the triumphirate of Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese whose dominance sent Lotto journeying outside of the Veneto in search of work and acclaim. Yet as good painting never dies, in recent years, Lotto has become the subject of several great retrospectives, like the one in the National Gallery of London in 2018, which focused on his portraits. Given that Lotto did rather unique things in his portraits and since the romance of Valentine’s Day is now gone, let us take a look at his Portrait of a Gentleman in His Study (c. 1530) as a sort of after Valentine’s Day story.
As became customary in Lotto’s portraits, there are many mysterious clues to something that the viewer can only guess at. Yet, these items do tell us some things about the young man in this portrait. From his clothing, it would seem that he is quite well off. The fact the he holds a thick book and has various letters scattered on his table, which is draped in rich green cloth, tells us he is well educated as well as financially substantial.
Taking a closer look at what is on that table reveals a few odd clues to what might be going on with this young man. We see the open letter on the left with a scattering of rose petals torn from the flower. They sit atop a woman’s fringed shawl. Could it be that the letter is a certain woman’s rejection of the young man’s offer, hence the ripped apart rose? Photo from facebook.com Eoin Lane
And yes, there is a lizard there, that little brown thing in the silk shawl (see photo below). Lizards symbolized mystery, for their comings and goings are hard to keep track of. They crawl into hidden areas, under rocks, and into caverns, and as such they were also associated with death. We notice an odd box-like shape just behind and to the side of the young man. Some have suggested that it is a coffin and that the shawl may have belonged to the sitter’s mother. They say that the book is a type of ledger, and he is going over business dealings. While that box does have a crucifix casually hanging from it, it does not seem very much like a coffin to me. The book that the young man is perusing is far too thick to be a ledger book of accounts. It seems more like a book that one might read to gain wisdom from the writings of the great poets of the past, especially if one had suffered an emotional letdown.
The face of this young man is quite serious. Though not necessarily downcast, it certainly is not smiling with joy. One of Lotto’s techniques was to have his subjects look out at the viewer of the painting. Here, the young man gives us a direct and penetrating gaze. He knows we are looking at him in a moment when he should peacefully be able to sort out his feelings in private. That adds to the mystery of the painting. Why are we able to see him in this moment? And what exactly is this moment? Has he been rejected by his true love? Or has his bid for a wealthy marriage been cast aside by his intended? Or did someone really die?
So we come back to the lizard. In ancient Roman times, the lizard was the symbol of death and rebirth, as they hybernate in the winter and reappear in the spring. So that would give hope to this young man in his romantic pursuits. However, by the middle ages and the Renaissance, the lizard was a symbol of evil as well as death. (photo galleriaaccademia.it)
So, Lotto has stumped us once again. Which of these meanings applies to his situation? What fate is predicted by these items, the woman’s shawl, the open letter, the torn flower petals, and the lizard? Of course, we can just look upon all this as Lotto’s distinguishing technique, something that set him apart from his competitors. His studies of the subjects of his portraits are all quite psychological, with little bits and pieces of personal effects that leave one with clues but never an answer.
As an artist born in the High Renaissance but who lived into the beginning of the Baroque and one who had to travel away from the competition in his Venetian home, Lotto and his work are a study of art in transition. His use of the vertical shape for his portraits was an innovation. Even though this painting is in somber tones (as perhaps befits the subject of the lovelorn), he also used the brilliant pastels associated with the 16th century’s Bella Maniera (Mannerist style). His unique style sometimes lost him valuable commissions, as his use of (and possible overuse of) symbolic items was not always well received. Yet, while those symbolic clues do not reveal the nature of the mystery in his painting, they do add to it. What is your interpretation?
For more on Lorenzo Lotto, try looking him up on youtube.com, as there one finds many lectures and presentations on him and his work. For a rather amusing take on this portrait, see LadyKflo’s look at the painting and the young man’s “dating profile” (see this blog post on ladykflo.com).
Resources for this article:
April Oettinger, ” The Lizard in the Study: Landscape and Otium in Lorenzo Lotto’s Portrait of a Young Man.” academia.edu
My own notes from art history classes I took while in Avignon, France. The class was on Bella Maniera (Mannerism) and Venetian painting, including a trip to Venice and the Galleria Accademia, where I saw this painting.
© Marjorie Vernelle 2024
Wine and Chocolate, Dangerous but Delicious!
Photo by Alev Takil on unsplash.com
Okay, call me crazy, but yes, I am a believer in odd but interesting combinations, and that in certain circumstances, there can never be too much of a good thing. However, there is a certain wisdom in a bit of Puritan restraint, for there are things that can cause disasterous conflicts, spoiling both. That is particularly true of wine and chocolate. So, with those provisos and remembering the mysteries in Lorenzo Lotto’s paintings, we will bravely dive into the love chemistry of wine and chocolate.
Now, for those of you who are true lovers of dark chocolate, do remember that bitterness increases with higher concentrations of cacao. If the concentration of cacao is 80% or more according to Martha Stewart, then it is best to just enjoy the glory of those wonderous dimensions of darkness that invade your senses when you bite into bitter dark chocolate and leave the wine alone. Cacao may make you want to go off to conquor an empire, and once that is done, you can always join the rest of us who are moving on to the pleasures of milk chocolate and even white chocolate that mix well with wines.
Photo by Vachos Xantinides on unsplash.com
Ah yes, milk chocolate. While, personally, it has never been a favorite of mine, the idea of enjoying it with a glass of fine wine is right down my alley. The higher the sugar content and the lower the cacao, the wider the range of wines one can use to pair with the chocolate. High milk content aids in making the chocolate appropriate for wine pairing. One can start with a red that has fruit flavors and one with lower tannin levels. No one wants to get dry mouth, so do not bring out the Cabernet. Instead, you could try a sweet sparkling red like a Valpolicella or a Lambrusco di Sorbara, a choice from Madelinie Puckette of Wine Folly. I don’t know if the bubbles in the sparkling wines affect the taste on their own, but they certainly lend themselves to the feeling of doing something deliciously extraodinary.
Photo by emy for unsplash.com
White chocolate, which contains no cacao and is considered by chocolate lovers to be a suspicious non-chocolate interloper, combines very nicely with dry red wines. You can take the Pinot Noir out again or try a Beaujolais. White wines go well with it and most especially the sparkling ones. Rosé works well. Puckette recommends a new style of Port called Rosé Port, which has a “minerality” that adds a touch of sophistication.
Photo by Hari Nandakumar for unsplash.com
Now, for those who are health conscious, it is good to remember that wine and chocolate both are full of antioxidents. This brings us back to dark chocolates in which the antioxident flavanols are much higher (white chocolate, of course has no cacao thus no flavanols, and milk chocolate has some but nothing like dark chocolate). There are some intriguing possibilities for wine pairings. Puckette mentions an exotic combination of ginger dark chocolate with Orange Muscat. For the less daring of us, there is the pairing of chocolate mint with a Syrah or Petite Syrah Port.
Photo by Elena Leya on unsplash.com
Yum, yum, yummy!
Articles used for this section:
“How to Pair Wine with Chocolate,” by Caroline Miquelez marthastewart.com
“What Wine to Pair with Chocolate?” Madeline Pucketter winefolly.com
©marjorie vernelle 2024