Marco Marziale

Who is Marco Marziale?

Marco Marziale was an Venetian painter from, known to have been active from 1492/1493 to 1507. He was a pupil of Giovanni Bellini, as stated in some of his inscriptions signing works, and was also influenced by Giovanni's bother Gentile, with possibly some elements of the style of Perugino also. From January 1493, when he must have at least completed his training, he was employed by the Republic of Venice as an assistant to Giovanni Bellini on the Great Council Chamber in the Doge's Palace at a fairly modest salary. These paintings were all lost in the great fire of 1574. In 1493 he joined the confraternity of the Scuola di San Marco.

In about 1500 he may have moved to Cremona, which Venice had just taken over in 1499, and which it held until 1509, when the Duchy of Milan recaptured the city. Marziale would no doubt have been unwelcome after this, if he was in the city. He is not documented there, but painted two altarpieces for Cremonese churches; it is possible these were sent from Venice, although the records of the scuola show him as absent from the city in 1505. In 1507 he signed works now in London and Berlin, after which nothing further about him is known.