Lelio Orsi

Marquis Charles de Valori (L.2500);
With P & D Colnaghi & Co., London; acquired in 1986 

London, P & D Colnaghi & Co., Old Master Drawings, 1986, no.3 reproduced;
Reggio Emilia, Teatro Valli, Lelio Orsi 1511-1587: dipinti e disegni, 1987-88, no. 15, reproduced, and on front cover;
Gainesville, et al., 1991-93, no. 7

Laid down on a light board the drawing is in very good condition. A small crack to the left margin. Litlle foxing toward the top and right and left marginsand very small abrasion on the cloud to the left . Very litle oxidazation in some places. Overall is fresh and the ink and white heitening strong. It seem also that no changes have occured on the preparation of the paper. The drawing is sold mounted and in a modern gilded frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This great example of Lelio Orsi's compositional skill and pictorial talent is related, along with eight other suviving sheets, to what must have been the most prestigious commission offered to any artist in Reggio Emilia -- the decoration, now lost, of the Torre dell' Orologio in the Piazza del Duomo.  The commission was awarded to Lelio Orsi in November 1544, and the connection with the present drawing is confirmed by the existence, in Reggio Emilia's Civica Pinacoteca Fontanesi, of an anonymous seventeenth century painting (fig.1), representing a religious feast taking place in the main square.  The painting shows the Torre dell' Orologio embellished just below the clock face, on the side facing the square, with the flamboyant fresco of Apollo driving his Chariot for which this is a study.¹  

In the catalogue of the 1987 Lelio Orsi exhibition, it was proposed that the project for decorating the clock tower may initially have involved four paintings, one on each side of the tower and each representing a different season, rather than just the single painting that appears in the surviving visual record of the building.  A series of four drawings, formerly in the Jabach collection and now in the Louvre, were recognised by Philip Pouncey as the work of Lelio Orsi, and seem to represent an early phase in the development of the project, which must subsequently have been simplified.²   These four drawings all include Apollo guiding the chariot of the sun, accompanied by the god or goddess and zodiacal signs associated with the different seasons.  The reason why the project was ultimately limited to the decoration of just the main face of the tower, with a single large fresco and a few monochrome figures towards the top of the building, is not known, but it is certainly true that the surviving drawings for the final image of Apollo guiding the chariot of the sun are much more striking and impressive than the four earlier drawings in the Louvre which, lacking a similar central focus, appear more like a series of decorative and consecutive friezes.  So, although the single fresco of the final decoration might in some ways appear less ambitious than the initial, multi-compositional scheme, the effect on the main face of the tower must in fact have been much more striking.

The sheer power of Orsi's ultimate composition is readily apparent in this drawing, and the other surviving studies. The figure of Aurora leads the chariot -- driven by a maestoso Apollo -- the goddess initiating the day and therefore alluding, appropriately enough for the location, to the passing of time.  In the background, various zodiacal signs surround the radiant sun. A total of five drawings relating to this final version of the composition are known, through which we see the artist carefully developing the details of his spectacular image.  The other four are in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle (inv.0224), the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan (inv.F269), the Louvre, Paris, and a private collection.³  It is interesting to note that the studies in Windsor and the Louvre bear indications of the architectural structure of the tower, with its cornices resting on corbels, leaving no doubt as to the intended destination of the painting.

Unlike the other preparatory studies, the present drawing is on paper which has been colored, prior to the execution of the drawing, with a warm, light brown wash.  This color, or a slightly more ochre variant of it, was often used by Orsi to prepare the surface of his most finished sheets.  It therefore seems very possible that the Horvitz drawing was made as the modello to be presented to the dignitaries of the city responsible for this highly important public commission.  It is also more highly finished in terms of draughtsmanship than the other known studies, and the elaborate use of white heightening, indicating the brightness of the sun and the arrival of the day, strongly contrasts with the skilfully applied brown wash, creating subtle volumes and strong tonalities of chiaroscuri.

1. For more information see M. Pirondini and E. Monducci, La Pittura del Cinquecento a Reggio, p. 50
2. Lelio Orsi, exh.cat., 1987-88, cat. nos. 10-13, reproduced
3. Lelio Orsi, exh.cat., 1987-88, cat. nos. 14, 16-18, reproduced