Itay, (1511-1587)
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The Temptation of Saint Anthony
- (c. 1570s), oil on canvas
- 17.4 x 14.3 in. (44.1 x 36.4 cm.)
- J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
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Editor’s Note:
In this work featured here, grotesque monsters lurk in the shadows and slowly emerge to taunt Saint Anthony who remains unperturbed, and reads his meditations as his companion pig sits at his side.
The painting above was most likely copied by the Flemish engraver Boetius Adams Bolswert (1580 – 1633) for plate no.4 in the first series in the book, Sylva Anachoretica Aegypti et Palaestinae (Antwerp: Hendrik Aerts, 1619).
About the Artist
Lelio Orsi, Italian, (1511-1587). Orsi was a draftsman and painter. He developed an illusionistic style of polished images, often with exaggerated movement and a poignant and vibrant way of envisioning his subjects.
Later in his career Orsi began to work mostly on easel paintings involving religious or mythological subjects painted in the same style.