LOTTO, Lorenzo
(b. ca. 1480, Venezia, d. 1556, Loreto)

Teams of Oxen

1532
Oil on wood, 32 x 69 cm
Pinacoteca Civica, Iesi

The predella of the St Lucy Altarpiece was constituted by three panels, from left to right: St Lucy at the Tomb of St Agatha; St Lucy before Paschasius and St Lucy Harnessed to Oxen; Teams of Oxen. The altarpiece was commissioned from Lotto by the Confraternity of St Lucy in Iesi in 1523.

The predella scenes reveal Lotto's talent as a painter of lively narrative scenes.

The story moves back from the main panel to the predella where the right-hand section of the central predella panel unites with the right panel, with its atmospheric townscape, to form a single extended scene. Paschasius furiously orders her to dragged away by teams of oxen. Again the Holy Ghost (the white dove) intervenes on Lucy's behalf. The extension of this fourth scene across more than half of the width of the entire predella, represents a highly original approach to predella design. No less than eight teams of powerful oxen are represented in the predella.