DENTRO LORENZO LOTTO
The San Bernardino Altarpiece, the photographs by Axel Hütte

In 2025, Accademia Carrara pays tribute to one of the most significant masters of the Italian Renaissance, Lorenzo Lotto (Venice, 1480 – Loreto, 1556/1557), with an exhibition celebrating the 500th year since his departure from Bergamo. It is an event that combines art, history and photography, with the San Bernardino Altarpiece as the centerpiece of an exhibition itinerary that winds its way through the museum and the surrounding area. The initiative, curated by Maria Luisa Pacelli with the photographic section curated by Filippo Maggia, is a journey that offers new perspectives on Lotto’s work and his connection to the city that saw him as a protagonist for 12 years.

Lotto arrived in Bergamo in 1513, where he spent the most fruitful years of his career. His production in the city marked a turning point in his artistic evolution, culminating in works that are now considered among the most innovative of the Renaissance. In 2025, to celebrate 500 years since his departure, Accademia Carrara presents the San Bernardino Altarpiece, one of his best-known masterpieces. Hailing from the church of the same name, which is closed to the public for now, the work will be on view in the museum in a display that allows visitors to enter the painting, exploring every detail of the work with a never-before-seen perspective.

The exhibition is enriched with a contemporary element thanks to the photographic section by Axel Hütte, one of the most important German photographers of his generation. His photographs, made with a combination of traditional and modern techniques, relate Lotto’s works to the spaces that house them, such as churches in Bergamo and the Suardi Oratory in Trescore Balneario. Light, a central element in Hütte’s work, becomes a means of restoring the mystical atmosphere of sacred places, accentuating the link between the works and their surrounding architectural context.