Focus on this artwork and explain the History.
An inscription at the altar's base reports that the canvas was commissioned in 1527 by the guardiano (curator of the church)  Giovanni Battista Donati and his vicar Giorgio de' Mundis. They chose Nicholas because of their membership in a merchants' brotherhood, which was dedicated to that saint. A frame in Istrian stone had already been prepared before the work's execution.
This was Lotto's first work after his return to Venice from  Bergamo. Despite several innovative elements (such as the nocturnal landscape in the lower part), the canvas was poorly received by contemporaries.  According to contemporary historians, the canvas was completed as early as 1529.
Bergamo Istrian stone Venice