In the summer of 1523 Lotto was in Trescore to fresco the oratory in the family villa at the behest of the cousins Battista and Maffeo Suardi. The commission originated in a devotional urgency, as astrologers (a subject Lotto and the Suardis were passionate about) predicted an epochal flood in February 1524: in the years of Luther’s Protestant Reformation, the episode was seen as a religious chastisement modeled after the Last Flood.
In a rustic, rural atmosphere, saints are exalted as absolute models of orthodoxy, Catholic to the point of martyrdom: Barbara, Catherine of Alexandria, Bridget of Ireland, Mary Magdalene. The most famous scene is that, on the left wall, of Christ the Vine (“I am the vine, you are the branches”; John 15:1-8): from his hands depart branches in which a series of saints are depicted in medallions: on the sides, the Doctors of the Church, pillars of Catholic orthodoxy, are engaged in repelling the assaults of heretics, followers of pagan cults but also, ideally, of the Lutheran schism.
Among the stories of St. Barbara, the martyrdom takes place in the public square-and is recognizable, even today, the town of Trescore – while a market is taking place, with children playing in the bustling town social life. Clearly distinguishable in the foreground, from behind, are the figures of two Lansquenet soldiers dressed in the latest fashion in elegant white robes with sky-blue puffs: familiar presences in the Val Cavallina, an obligatory passage area between northern Europe and the Italian courts. Three years later, in 1527, they would sack Rome, putting the capital of Catholicism to the sword.

On the opposite wall St. Bridget of Ireland takes her vows in the presence of the Suardi family, miraculously reviving the wooden plank on which she is kneeling; only the child is aware of the scene, which draws the attention of the gentlemen on the left, the patrons of the paintings. The Saint’s series of miracles continues in the wall scenes, not infrequently set in the agricultural fields of the areas adjoining Trescore and Val Cavallina: Bridget restores sight to the blind, turns water into beer, desiccates a tree, appeases a bad weather, and tames a wild boar chasing a flock of sheep; a clear allusion, the latter, to the Christian people worn down by Protestant theses, and to the pope’s cowardice to be read in relation to the figure of the shepherd, who in the fresco runs away rather than defend his flock. On the right, a figure looks straight at the viewer with a bundle of wood: this is Lorenzo Lotto’s self-portrait as a hunter.
The ceiling depicts a mock vineyard arbor, inhabited by a series of putti: one of these urinates right above the painter’s self-portrait. In the alchemical language of the time – a discipline of which Lotto was a devotee – urine was called “lot,” a cryptic and ingenious device with which the painter wanted to ideally sign himself.

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• Opening time : M-F 08.30 -12.30
  S 08.30 – 12:30

Visits to the Suardi chapel are by reservation only.

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