Lelio Orsi

There is documentary evidence that he visited Rome in 1554–55, and may have been influenced by Girolamo Bedoli, Correggio and the prototypic mannerists Giulio Romano as well as Michelangelo and his successor Daniele da Volterra.

Other pupils or followers were Giovanni Bianchi, known as il Bertone Reggiano,[3] and Jacopo Borbone of Novellara.

[4] He was active in both exterior and interior decoration, and much of his work is in small cabinet pieces, not large altarpieces.

Orsi’s style draws upon the ethereal simplicity of Correggio, but also incorporates the contorted poses, perspective distortions, and crowded settings characteristic of Mannerism.

While the angels above unsheathing divine swords are meant to carry the day in The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine it appears that the execution was stymied by breakdown within the complex set of depicted gears.