Suardi Chapel
The Suardi Chapel is an oratory or private chapel inside the villa in Trescore Balneario, Province of Bergamo owned by the Suardi counts. It is dedicated to Saint Barbara and Saint Brigid and was completely rebuilt by the cousins Giovan Battista and Maffeo Suardi. It is fully covered in 1524 by frescoes commissioned by them from by Lorenzo Lotto of "Christ the Vine" and "Lives of the Saints". In the 19th century count Gianforte Suardi built a corridor connecting the chapel to the villa and modified the chapel entrance - those entering had previously immediately found themselves in front of the north wall with its depiction of "Christ the Vine".

Located on the road across the Val Cavallina which links Bergamo to Lago d'Iseo, the chapel had existed since the 15th century. Around 1523 count Giovan Battista Suardi commissioned Lotto to decorate the oratory and so the artist immediately moved to the area. By this show of piety the count hoped to avert a flood (predicted by astrologers for February 1524) and to counter the seeds of Lutheranism brought to northern Italy by the Landsknechts. The frescoes were complete by summer 1524. The artist and commissioners were friends, as shown by their correspondence discussing the cartoons for the intarsi in the choir of Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo. Lotto was assisted by Francesco Bonetti, documented as his pupil from 1517 to 1550.
Q580499
oratory
Concept
Q101663
Trescore Balneario
LOC
Q16137
Province of Bergamo
LOC
Q3976468
Suardi counts
Concept
Q192816
Saint Barbara
PER
Q80979
Saint Brigid
MISC
Q310973
Lorenzo Lotto
PER
Q1058115
Val Cavallina
LOC
Q628
Bergamo
LOC
Q15648
Lago d'Iseo
LOC
None
Giovan Battista Suardi
UNK
Q75809
Lutheranism
Concept
Q156733
Landsknecht
PER
Q6309
1524
TIME
Q2001128
Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo
LOC
None
Francesco Bonetti
UNK
Q3657381
Suardi Chapel
LOC
1524-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1524
DATE
1523-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1523
DATE
1524-02-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
February 1524
DATE
1524-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1524
DATE
1517-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1517
DATE
1550-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1550
DATE
+19^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
19
NUMBER
+15^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
15
NUMBER
located in the administrative territorial entity
creator
inception
inception
located in the administrative territorial entity