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Andrea Odoni

Lorenzo Lotto

Lorenzo Lotto was an Italian painter, draughtsman and illustrator, traditionally placed in the Venetian school. He painted mainly altarpieces, religious subjects and portraits.

Max Resolution:1501×1331 PX

Title:Andrea Odoni

Artists:Lorenzo Lotto

Date:1527; Italy

Style:High Renaissance

Genre:portrait

Medium:oil,canvas

Location:Royal Collection (Buckingham Palace), London, UK

Dimensions:116.6×104.6 cm

Copyright:Public domain

The Portrait of Andrea Odoni is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto, dating to 1527. It is housed in the Royal Collection of Buckingham Palace, London, United Kingdom.

The work is mentioned in 1532 by Marcantonio Michiel as part of Andrea Odoni's collection. It was also seen by the contemporary art biographer Giorgio Vasari, and it entered the English royal collection in 1660, having been bought at Amsterdam. In the past it has been attributed also to Titian and Correggio.

The style is typical of Lotto's Venetian period, with denser tones, a softer chromatic range and atmospheric effects at the boundaries.

The horizontal format, which Lotto had already experimented for portraits of couples, in this case was adopted also for a single subject, a Humanist portrayed among his collection of antiques marbles. It has been however supposed that the pieces shown were not real, but, more likely, models that have a symbolic role alluding to the nature and the virtues of the subject.

The man sits next to a table, with a rich fur-lined jacket, and holds a statuette, which perhaps portrays a Diana of Ephesus. The hands touching the chest is a sentimental theme typical of Lotto's works. The tables has also a book and some ancient coins.

According to the Royal Collection archives, the painting was in the possession of Andrea Odoni, then his brother, Alvise Odoni by 1555, then Lucas van Uffelen, probably by 1623, then Gerrit Reynst, 1639, then the States of Holland and West Friesland for presentation to Charles II as part of the Dutch Gift, 1660. When the painting was in Amsterdam in the Van Uffelen collection (Van Uffelen returned to live there in 1630) or the Reynst Collection, it was engraved by Cornelis Visscher in reverse.