Restored in 1991 with funding from Hedy Lanham Giusti Allen and the Ryan Foundation; maintenance to the painting and emergency repairs for the altar in 2009 were funded by Save Venice.

The first public work by Lorenzo Lotto in his native Venice, this altarpiece remains on the altar in Santa Maria dei Carmini for which it was commissioned by the Scuola di San Nicolò dei Mercanti, a merchants’ guild located next to the church. The painting depicts Saint Nicholas of Bari in Glory in the presence of saints and angels.

In bishop’s garb, with angels holding his crosier and mitre, Saint Nicholas is elevated to heaven on a solid throne of clouds, accompanied by Saint John the Baptist and Saint Lucy. Set against a richly rendered sky, they hover high above the earth below, which is characterized by a sweeping landscape that combines the breadth of Titian with the glowing naturalism of Flemish painting. The overall effect is of deep spatial extension, upward to heaven and outward to the sea.

As patron saint of sailors, Nicholas was invoked for the success of the merchant fleets on which the Venetian economy depended; according to legend, Lucy delivered the Venetian navy from fog and smoke, as the protectress of the eyes and of vision. Saint John the Baptist is also present as the name saint of one of the officers of the guild that was responsible for the commission, Giovanni Battista Donati. His companion officer, Giorgio de’ Mundis, is represented by the scene of Saint George slaying the dragon in the lower right of the composition. The stone frame and marble altar were commissioned in 1527, and this date is inscribed on the base of the frame.

The 1991 restoration was undertaken by conservator Ferruccio Volpin, with the guidance of project director Adriana Augusti of the Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice.

In 2009, the painting underwent maintenance by Sandro Pesso, and emergency repairs were made to the altar by conservators from the Lithos restoration firm; this campaign was overseen by project director Amalia Donatella Basso of the Superintendency of Monuments of Venice.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480–1556/57)
Saint Nicholas of Bari in Glory with Saints Lucy and John the Baptist
1527-29, oil on canvas
335 x 188 cm

Brown, David Alan, Peter Humfrey, and Mauro Lucco. Lorenzo Lotto: Rediscovered Master of the Renaissance. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art with Yale University Press, New Haven, 1997.

Humfrey, Peter. Lorenzo Lotto. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.