Deposition 1512
In
1426 the town of Jesi invited the Franciscan Giacomo della Marca to inflame
the people's hearts for the lent preparation. On that occasion the famous preacher
founded the Brotherhood del Buon Gesù in the Church of S. Floriano, following
the teachings of the unforgotten master Bernardino da Siena. The presence of
S. Giacomo della Marca in Jesi was the prelude to the Franciscan Order, that
took possession of S. Floriano Church, the most important church in Jesi, a
place where civil administration and religious practice found points of identification.
Some years before, in 1411, the mortal remains of S. Floriano, the soldier in
Christ, had solemny been buried in the church that up to that moment had been
dedicated to S. Giorgio, also a bellicose defender of faith. On the occasion
of the first centenary from the finding of the Saint's body some celebrative
events were organized, among which we can include the commission for the Altarpiece
by the Buon Gesù Brotherhood. In 1508 the friars had already found in
Luca Signorelli the prestigious artist to whom they could commit the work.
The painter had just successfully finished the big Polyptych of S. Medardo
in Arcevia: he was the right artist for a painting which should be magnificent
and splendid. The contract was signed in Jesi on June 26th 1508 in the same
chapel of Buon Gesù in S. Floriano Church where the painting would be
placed. In spite of the good intentions of the parties, a clause in the contract
was fatal to the good accomplishment of the work. The friars actually bound
Luca Signorelli to paint the big Altarpiece in Jesi and offered him and his
assistants their hospitality. The friars' request was not unusual: they wanted
to make sure that the master himself would do the work. But it was probably
because of that clause that Luca Signorelli couldn't fulfil the engagement taken
on and so he gave up the "jesino" work. The publication by Mr. Anselmi
(1892) of the contract regarding the Christ's Baptism in Arcevia is particularly
enlightening on this subject. The Arcevia contract had been signed on June 5th
1508, 21 days before the Jesi one, with the difference that the Arcevia friars
wanted Signorelli to be the author of the three main characters only, while
his assistants could complete the painting in the less important parts. After
the failure of the agreement with Luca Signorelli the jesini friars were disappointed
and waited for further three years before finding the right artist for their
work.
It is obviously difficult to know who the first person was to name Lorenzo
Lotto, we can only infere it from some traces we have. According to some documents
we know that early in 1509 Lorenzo Lotto was in Rome, were he was working at
the renovation of the Pope's apartments at the Vatican. At the beginning numerous
Italian and foreign artists participated in this work but suddenly in 1509 all
the contracts were cancelled and the whole responsability of the work was given
to Raffaello. Among those "dismissed" artists there was Lorenzo Lotto,
as shown by D. Frapiccini who has found the contract cancellation registered
on the back of the latest payment received by Lotto on September 18th 1509.
The expert correlates the contract cancellation and the death of the Apostolic
Secretary and Treasurer of the Holy Seat Enrico Bruni, who was a friend of Bishop
De Cuppis', one of Lotto's patrons in Recanati.It is also known that already
in 1510 the jesino humanist Angelo Colocci had been appointed as an Apostolic
Secretary and he therefore knew Lotto and appreciated his qualities. So maybe
it was thanks to Angelo Colocci, and probably also to Signorelli himself, that
the Buon Gesù Brotherhood called for Lorenzo Lotto.