Lelio Orsi The Pilgrims on the Walk to Emmaus Pen and brown ink A preparatory drawing for the painting now in the National Gallery, London. A number of other studies for this painting are known, in the Louvre, the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, the Pallazo Rosso in Genoa and in a private collection in Sacramento, attesting to the artist's method of preparation employing numerous drawings. The origin of the painting's commission is obscure, but according to Monducci and Pirondi, the strong northern influence in the choice of subject and the costume which recalls prints by Durer, suggests a date after 1570. Our sheet is typical of Orsi's technique both in the manner of the nervous crosshatching and in the distinctive facial types. We are grateful to Mr. Massimo Pirondini for confirming the attribution on the basis of a photograph, and who will be including our drawing in his next publication on Lelio Orsi. |
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