Lot 26: Lelio Orsi (1508/11-1587)

The Rape of Ganymede with inscription 'Lelio da Novellara' black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown and blue wash heightened with white (partly oxidised) on light brown paper 245 x 230 mm. PROVENANCE An unidentified armorial collector's mark with an eagle, possibly the Gonzaga emblem. Casino di Sotto, Novellara, 1770 (valued at 2 zecchini). Sir Joshua Reynolds (L. 3016a), his lot number 'Lot 16..' on the mount. T. Blayds (L. 2422). LITERATURE V. Davolio, Memorie storiche della contea de Novellara e dei Gonzaghi che vi deminarono, Milan (1987 edition), III, p. 188. V. Davolio, Notizie storiche di Lelio Orsi, 1836, Manuscript in the Museo Gonzaga, Novellara. G. Campori, Raccolta di cataloghi ed inventari inediti di quadri, statue, disegni, bronzi, dorerie, smalti, medaglie, avori ecc. dal secolo XV al sec. XIX, Modena, 1870, p. 669. C. Malagoli, Memorie storiche su Lelio Orsi celebre pittore di Novellara, Guastalla, 1892, p. 21. R. Salvini and A.M. Chiodi, Lelio Orsi, exhib. cat., Reggio Emilia, Civica Galleria Fontanesi, 1950, p. 6. E. Monducci and M. Pirondini, Lelio Orsi, exhib. cat., Reggio Emilia, Teatro Valli, 1987, p. 250, no. 21. NOTES Probably a study for the lost fresco of the same subject painted on the fa‡ade of a house which during the 17th Century was the property of of the Gentili family, E. Monducci and M. Pirondini, op. cit., p. 246, no. 34. The fresco was mentioned in Lelio Orsi's manuscript biography in the Archivio di Stato, Modena, written in the mid-17th Century, but was described as lost in 1782 by P. Fontanesi in the manuscript of the Descrizione della pitture e sculture esistenti nelle Chiese della citt… di Reggio di Lombardia. V. Diavolo, who wrote about Novellara from 1825, saw the fresco before its destruction and described it: '..e noi abbiamo veduto, non a molti anni distruggerne gli ultimi avanzi in alcuni scudi rappresentanti battaglie navali, la guerra de'Giganti, un Ganimede a cavallo, dipinti da Lelio sulla facciata dell'antica casa Gentili, la seconda a mattina del portico superiore alla piazza, nella circostanza che il fu signor Domenico Ardovini la fece risarcire'. The present drawing was mentioned in an inventory of 1770 of the Casino di Sotto in Novellara. The drawing was probably acquired by Sir Joshua Reynolds in the last years of the 18th Century. Orsi painted another fresco of Ganymede, now in the Galleria Estense in Modena, E. Monducci and M. Pirondini, op. cit., no. 36. In that fresco Orsi used the more usual iconography, with Zeus as an eagle attacking the standing figure of Ganymede, rather than showing him on horseback as in the present sheet. Ganymede shown riding at the moment of his abduction is unusual. Although Homer, Pausanius and Virgil describe Ganymede being carried off while hunting. Moreover, to comfort the youth's father, Zeus sent Hermes to him with two immortal mares.