«Ignorante et di pocha religione de Cristo». Lorenzo Lotto e fra Damiano Zambelli

[Autom. eng. transl.] Lorenzo Lotto and the inlayer between Damiano Zambelli (around 1480 - 1549) had the opportunity to experience a multi-year coexistence in Bergamo, in the yards sponsored by Captain Alessandro Martinengo Colleoni for the Dominicans of the convent of Saints Stefano and Domenico: Lotto from 1513 was in charge of create the monumental altarpiece for the main altar and later painted frescoes for the church pier; while Zambelli by 1528 engaged in the decoration of the "inlay benches" for the noble chapel. Just the Zambellian inlays, with their innovative predilection for stories populated by numerous characters, constitute the most significant precedent of the narrative evolution that the Bergamo inlay undertaken some time later in the panels executed on Lotto's drawings for the new choir of the basilica of Santa Maria Greater. As is known, the "master trait" between the two shipyards was the young master Giovanni Francesco Capoferri, first active at Fra Damiano for professional improvement and then director of the works in the prestigious order of the Consorzio della Misericordia. Beside him, other artists moved between the two factories and are documented at different chronological heights in both companies, indicating that in the later choir of Santa Maria Maggiore, at least in the first phase of the works, a local artisan culture of Zambellian imprint - born between the walls of the Dominican church - with which Lotto soon found himself dealing. The comparison between the Zambellian and the struggle schools, each characterized by its own modus operandi, did not have to be resolved completely peacefully. The tone of the words used by Lotto himself in a well-known letter of July 1526 addressed to the Consortium of Mercy - words taken from the title of this contribution - would suggest a seriously compromised relationship with Fra Damiano. Regardless of personal conflicts, the effects of confrontation were not slow in manifesting themselves. On the one hand, the Santa Maria Maggiore construction site was inevitably influenced by certain peculiarities of the previous Zambellian model; on the other, Fra Damiano made positive use of the relationship with the new struggle experience.