The Holy Trinity

The Holy Trinity, created by Lorenzo Lotto in 1523 in Bergamo for the church of Sant'Alessandro della Croce, presents a truly peculiar reflection of the Trinitarian mystery. It is an oil on canvas work, 170 x 115 cm, now in temporary storage at the Diocesan Museum of Bergamo.

The artist, a man of profound faith, characterized by a spirituality based on the reflection of the mystery of the Incarnation, spent many years at the service of the sanctuary of Loreto. Here he had the opportunity to draw inspiration directly from the presence of the House of Nazareth, where Joseph and Mary lived with the Son of God made man for about thirty years.

Lorenzo Lotto organizes the representation of the Holy Trinity from the testimony that Christ gives to the Father, his main reference is in John 12, 44-45:

“Jesus then cried out with a loud voice, “Whoever believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me; whoever sees me sees him who sent me."

Christ is the center, the visible part of the Trinitarian mystery. The drapery worn by Christ flutters in the wind, their blue and red colors recall his dual nature, divine and human. In a single image, Lorenzo Lotto recalls multiple mysteries of the life of Christ: Jesus transfigured on Tabor, to the resurrected Jesus who ascended to heaven.

The Risen Christ in the bosom of the Father shows the faithful his hands pierced by nails, opening his arms in an attitude that recalls that of the shadow of light behind him. God the Father is, in fact, ingeniously represented as a shape of light behind and above Christ, while the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove as on the day of the baptism in the Jordan River (see Mt 3, 13-17; Mk 1,7 -11; Luke 3, 15-22).

In the words of the Gospel of John 1, 18 we find the key that illustrates the meditation of the Trinitarian mystery that Lorenzo Lotto has fixed on this canvas: "No one has ever seen God: the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he revealed it.” Under the feet of Christ we see the rainbow, a sign of the New and eternal Covenant between heaven and earth, forever sanctioned by the Blood of Christ, which returns to the bosom of the Father with the wounds of the cross still open. The divine Word carries with it our humanity assumed in a perennial way. Now all Humanity in Christ is kept in the Trinitarian heart, this means that, for every man, a door has been opened, the possibility has been given to enter and live the divine Life, prepared by the Father, offered through obedience and the sacrifice of the Son is given to the world in large measure by the Holy Spirit.