Marcello Baschenis was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1829, during a significant period of artistic ferment for the city.
[3][2] Starting in 1850, he began gaining recognition at the exhibitions of the Società Promotrice di Belle Arti,[4] debuting at the age of twenty-one with a drawing of John the Baptist.
[4] Only a few of these works have survived to this day, among them: La preghiera dei promessi sposi (1871, housed at the Genoa Gallery of Modern Art and previously exhibited in 1871[7]), depicting two young women portraying characters from the opera by Petrella and Ghislanzoni,[8] and The Traveling Knife Grinder (1875, housed at the Gallery of the Provincial Administration of Genoa).
[10] Additionally, at the Santuario di Nostra Signora Incoronata, there is a pair of 1875 paintings dedicated to the popular legend of Pacciûgo and Pacciûga.
[15] In 1938, as part of the celebrations of the Grandi Liguri, he was among the artists featured in the exhibition on the figures who shaped Ligurian painting during the 19th century, held at Palazzo Rosso under the supervision of Orlando Grosso.