Orsi, Prospero

Orsi, Prospero a Roman painter, was born in 1560. According to Baglioni, he was employed by pope Sixtus V in the palace of St. John of Lateran, where he painted two ceilings, one representing the Children of Israel passing through the Red Sea, and the other Isaac blessing Jacob. He was the particular friend of the Cav. Giuseppe Cesari d'Arpino, whose manner he imitated. He afterwards abandoned historical subjects for grotesques, for which he had extraordinary talents, and for this reason was called Prosperino dalle Grottesche. He died in 1635, in the pontificate of Urban VIII.