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Lot Essay
Probably a study for the lost fresco of the same subject painted on the façade 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 città 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.
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.