_Lelio Orsi_ (Parmese: 1511-1586).
This painter, highly esteemed in his own day and of
considerable talent, has remained less known than many others
of inferior merit--a fact which is due, as Lanzi observes
(ii. 357), to his having divided his time between Reggio and
Novellara, comparatively obscure towns in the Emilia. He was
born at Reggio, and was much employed there by the Gonzagi. He
is supposed to have been a pupil of Correggio, whose works he
is known to have copied, and of whom he was a personal friend.
In 1546 he was banished for some unknown offence, and was not
permitted to return to Reggio till 1552. During these years
he settled at Novellara, where again he was employed by the
Gonzagas. He must also have visited Rome, and studied the works
of Michael Angelo. Most of Orsi's frescoes have perished. Some
of his pictures are in the Gallery at Modena. He was celebrated
in his day no less as an architect than as a painter.
There is an element of picturesqueness and almost modern romanticism in
this picture. Christ and the disciples wear broad-brimmed hats and the
dress of Italian peasants (_cf._ No. 753).