Marco MARCHETTI known as Marco da FAENZA (ca. 1528 - 1588), Combat de tritons (Fight of tritons)

Fighting tritons
Marco MARCHETTI known as Marco da FAENZA (Faenza, circa 1528 - 1588),

Pen and brown ink wash
Annotated "L. da Vinci" lower left
180 x 267 mm

Provenance :
Count Modesto Ignazio Bonaventura Luigi Genevosio (Turin 1719-id. 1795), L. 545. Stamped lower right and mounted.

Comparative bibliography:
V. Birke and J. Kertész, Die Italienischen Zeichnungen der Albertina, Wien 1992, I, inv. 533; C. Monbeig Goguel, Vasari et son temps, Paris 1972, n. 62; C. van Tuyll van Serooskerken, The Italian drawings of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries in the Teyler Museum, Harlem 2000, N. 176


Marco Marchetti was a prolific draughtsman, and many of his drawings are held in major public collections. In particular, the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe at the Uffizi in Florence offers a corpus of hundreds of pieces, mainly dating from the last twenty years of the artist's activity. Many of Marchetti's figure sheets, in fact, have a highly recognizable appearance. They are executed in pen and brown ink with highly diluted, often flat washes in a form that can be defined as "synthetic", in analogy with Faenza's contemporary ceramic production.

In the course of our studies, many of his serial leaves have found precise links with the artist's painting, in particular with works produced in Faenza and Rimini from the seventh decade onwards, and with increasing frequency, after 1570, the date set by documents attesting him in Rimini in the service of the Marcheselli family. This sheet depicting a tritone fight is related to the fresco decoration of Florence's Palazzo Vecchio, where this theme is repeatedly depicted in cameo. This is probably an earlier work, as we know that Marchetti arrived in Florence on May 20, 1555.

The Albertina in Vienna holds a sheet of the same subject, very similar to our own. A drawing in the Uffizi depicting a battle between tritons and naiads could also be linked to this decor. If the style of our sheet is typical of the artist, the theme can be compared to a sheet by Taddeo Zuccaro circa 1566, preserved at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, depicting marine deities in a cartouche.

We would like to thank Professor Giulio Zavatta for his invaluable assistance in the preparation of this notice.