Enos (Rosso, Lotto)

Enos by Lotto, part of the intarsia panel designs for Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, depicts one of the antediluvian patriarchs from the Book of Genesis. These Old Testament subjects allowed Lotto to exercise his narrative imagination on a grand scale, creating a comprehensive visual bible for the church’s choir. Characteristic of the artist's mature approach, the work displays nervous, charged atmosphere in portraits, symbolic objects placed with enigmatic purpose, eclectic absorption of influences from Germany, Raphael, and Giorgione, restless spatial invention.

The patriarchal figure is rendered with Lotto’s characteristic combination of bold coloring and expressive gesture. The intarsia design format required clear, strong compositions readable at a distance.