Madonna of the Rosary 1539

Lorenzo Lotto painted this large altarpiece, Madonna of the Rosary, around 1539 in the Republic of Venice. The work presents the Virgin Mary offering a rosary, a string of prayer beads, to Saint Dominic. Note the context in which this painting appears; that of the Counter-Reformation. The Catholic Church was attempting to reinforce its authority in response to the rise of Protestantism. Here, the artist uses the imagery of the rosary to emphasize the importance of personal devotion and prayer in the Catholic faith. Lotto frames the figures within a rose arbour, from which emerge fifteen roundels depicting scenes from the life of Christ. These represent the fifteen mysteries, and by extension the prayers, of the rosary, and reinforce its importance to the faithful. Paintings such as these can be better understood through the study of devotional literature and documents from religious institutions of the period. They remind us that the meaning of art is always bound to its social and institutional context.