Currently not on view
Design for the Façade of Casa Orsi,
ca. 1570s
Lelio Orsi, Italian, 1508–1587
x1947-14
This design, for the facade of one of the Orsi family homes in Novellara or Reggio Emilia, bears an old inscription with the artist’s name in the lower left corner, made by a previous owner. Bolstering this attribution is the presence of a watermark that depicts an anchor in a circle, which is documented on paper produced in Reggio Emilia in 1566; such paper would have been readily available to the artist.
Information
Title
Design for the Façade of Casa Orsi
Dates
ca. 1570s
Maker
Medium
Pen and brown ink and brush and brown and yellow-brown wash heightened with white gouache over black chalk, on rust-brown prepared laid paper
Dimensions
23.8 × 31.8 cm (9 3/8 × 12 1/2 in.)
frame: 40.5 × 53.2 × 2.9 cm (15 15/16 × 20 15/16 × 1 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr.
Object Number
x1947-14
Inscription
Inscribed recto, lower left, in black ink: Lelio de
Novelare; lower right, in black ink: J.C.R.; inscribed
verso, center, in black next to a paraph: Clxxy;
upper center, in red pencil: iii5
Marks/Labels/Seals
Watermark: Anchor in a circle (Briquet 552, Reggio Emilia 1566)
Reference Numbers
Gibbons 462
Culture
Type
Materials
Desneux de la Noue, Paris, paraph
(L. 3014) verso, center, in black; E. Jabach, script,
verso, upper center, in red; Pierre Crozat (?);
Sir John Charles Robinson, London, script
(L. 1433) recto, lower right, in black ink; Frank
Jewett Mather Jr., stamp (L. 1853a) recto, lower
left, in black.
(L. 3014) verso, center, in black; E. Jabach, script,
verso, upper center, in red; Pierre Crozat (?);
Sir John Charles Robinson, London, script
(L. 1433) recto, lower right, in black ink; Frank
Jewett Mather Jr., stamp (L. 1853a) recto, lower
left, in black.
- "Recent accessions", Record of the Museum of Historic Art, Princeton University 6, no. 1/2 (1947): p. 7., p. 8
- "Recent accessions," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 7, no. 1 (1948): p. 7., p. 7
- Arthur Ewart Popham and Johannes Wilde, The Italian drawings of the XV and XVI centuries in the collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle, (London: Phaidon Press, 1949)., no. 529, p. 272
- Roberto Salvini and Alberto Mario Chiodi, Mostra di Lelio Orsi, (Reggio Emilia: Reggio Emilia (Italy : Province). Ente provinciale per il turismo?, 1950)., p 112, no. 14
- Jacob Bean, Italian drawings in the Art Museum, Princeton University; 106 selected examples, (New York: October House, 1966)., no. 15
- Janos Scholz, "Italian Drawings in the Art Museum of Princeton University," Burlington Magazine 109 no. 770 (May, 1967): p. 290-299., p. 293
- Felton Gibbons, Catalogue of Italian Drawings in The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977)., Vol. 1: p. 198, no. 637 (illustrated in Vol. 2 under the same catalog number)
- Vittoria Romani, Lelio Orsi, (Modena: Aedes muratoriana, 1984)., p. 141, fig. 61; p. 76, esp. note. 132
- Elio Monducci and Massimo Pirondini, et. al., Lelio Orsi, (Cinisello Balsamo, Milano: Amilcare Pizzi, 1987)., p. 210-211, no. 180 (illus.);
- Maria Ritia Bentini, "Il progetto decorativo per la casa dell'artista: indagini e proposte per una lettura dell'immaginario di Lelio Orsi", in Jadranka Bentini, ed., Lelio Orsi e la cultura del suo tempo : atti del convegno internazionale di studi: Reggio Emilia, Novellara 28-29 gennaio 1988, (Bologna: Nuova Alfa, 1990): p. 123-138., p. 137, fig. 6; p. 123, 131, note 7
- Laura Giles, Lia Markey, Claire Van Cleave, et. al., Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2014)., p. 44, cat. no. 17; p. 45 (illus.); p. 46 (verso illus.); p. 257-258, app. no. 86; p. 258 (illus.)
