*This painting is sold but the artist is regularly available in our inventory		Ludovico Marchetti* Rome 1853 – Paris1909 Calèches au bois Pen and ink with pencil, wash htnd. w/gouache 13.4 x 20.5 in. / 34 x 52 cm. Signed bottom right: Ludovico Marchetti 1886 Provenance: Archive de l’Illustration, Paris Exhibitions: Paris, Musée Carnavalet, L’Illustration, journal universel, Un siecle de vie francaise, January 27 – April 26, 1987, no. 270 Literature: L’Illustration. January 2, 1887 Born in Rome on May 10, 1853, Ludovico Marchetti received his early artistic training in the atelier of the Spanish painter Mariano Fortuny y Marsal. Following his studies in Rome, Marchetti left for France where he was to remain until his death in 1909. He attained bronze medal status at the Paris Salon in 1889 and also developed a following in the Salons of Munich and Berlin. The medal at the Paris Salon was noteworthy as the event coincided with the famous Paris Exposition in 1889. An exhibitor in Paris, Munich and Berlin, Marchetti specialized in period pieces, especially historical and genre paintings from the 16th – 18th centuries. In these images, the artist often chose colorful figures such as troubadours, cavaliers and courtesans. He painted in oil and watercolor genre scenes, elegant interiors and some orientalist work in a realist style. Calèches au bois is a highly skilled pen and ink drawing depicting the hustle and bustle of a Parisian park, most likely the fashionable Bois de Boulogne. Riders in horse-drawn carriages greet one another while seated onlookers at the bottom left revel in the busy scene. The drawing encompasses several media, with pen and ink overlaid with a wash and an application of gouache for highlights. A large range of values of the ink and wash appears throughout the drawing. Some of the realistic detail can be attributed to Marchetti’s early use of photography. The drawing appeared in L’Illustration, one of the most influential and popular magazines in Paris at the end of the nineteenth century. The scene splendidly mirrors social life in the cultural capital of the Belle Epoque.