Giocoliere. 1951.
Tempera over India ink pen.
Signd and dated in bottom right. Signed, dated and titled on the reverse. On firm off-white paper. 45 x 34.5 cm (17.7 x 13.5 in), size of sheet. [JS].

• Depictions of horses are the most famous motifs in Marini's creation.
• Marini's graphic mastery becomes particularly obvious in the combination of clear ink contours and nuanced colors.
• Marini's horsemen pictures are allegories of the fragile balance of human existence.
• Marino Marini's works are in many important international collections, among them the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan, the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice, Tate Modern, London, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Accompanied by a photo expertise issued by the Fondazione Marino Marini, Pistoia, on May 19, 2022. The work is registered in the artist's archive with the number 903.

PROVENANCE: Private collection Italy.

"Horse and rider must have had a strong appeal for Marini, because they dominate in his work. [.] Aside from the symbolic value, the horse appeals to the artist through certain qualities: through its appearance, the play of its muscles, its grace of movement, and ultimately through the fear it can cause when in rage or panick. The horse is the subject of excellent works of art, beginning with Palaeolithic cave paintings [.] When Marini chose the horse as his main subject, he showed a preference as old as art itself."
Patrick Waldberg and G. di San Lazzaro, Marino Marini. Leben und Werk, Frankfurt 1971, p. 12