(Faenza 1778 - 1852)
IL GIORNO, after Andrea Appiani
Black chalk, squared, on grey paper, backed. All the outlines have been indented for transfer; 153 x 271 mm.
PROVENANCE: Felice Pasquè (Lugt 3771). This is the preparatory drawing by Marri for the etching by Ignazio Altini, which was included in the collection of etched copies after Appiani published in 1820 by Michele Bisi: Incisioni delle opere del pittore Cav.re Andrea Appiani dedicate a S.A.I. il granduca Michele di Russia e pubblicate dell'incisore Michele Bisi, Milano, per Nicolò Bettoni. See here for a comparison between the drawing and the print. The source of our drawing is one of the panels, painted in monochrome by Appiani in the Sala dei Principi in the Palazzo Reale, in Milan (1808). As the great part of the frescoes by Appiani in the palace, the Sala dei Principi has been destroyed by bombing in the second World War.
Marri attended the Scuola di Disegno in Faenza, under Giuseppe Zauli, alongside Tommaso Minardi and Michele Sangiorgi. He was then sponsored by the Faentine Congregazione della Carità, to travel to Rome to apprentice as an engraver. In 1818 Marri moved to Milan, where he worked with the engraver Giuseppe Longhi. In 1830 he returned to Faenza, to direct the Scuola del Disegno, and in 1849 he accepted a similar position in the city of Forlì.