Lorenzo Lotto | 1527/1533
Highly popular in Venice, the motif of the sacra conversazione was altered by the generation of Bellini's pupils: the strictly hierarchical order of the saints became increasingly free. Lotto played an important role in this development: he was the first to completely integrate the Madonna, who previously was enthroned, into her surroundings, and he used contrasts of light and shadow to lend a mysterious animation to this interplay of figure and nature.