Born in Milan in 1855, Enrico Marchetti moved to Turin in 1874 and here he began an apprenticeship with Benedetto Gioffredo Rinaldi, which was followed by a period of collaboration with Antonio Guadagnini. His employers, more active as dealers and repairers than as violin makers, allowed him to develop a personal style which, over the course of a long career, evolved into a very varied and not always stylistically homogeneous production.
He used various models: Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù, but above all those inspired by luthiers active in Turin before him, such as Giovanni Battista Guadagnini and Giovanni Francesco Pressenda. The use of the Testore model is also very common, in homage to the luthier's Milanese origins. Technically, Marchetti sometimes worked in a careful and refined way, even if more often his spontaneous and personal style is the most recognizable. The scroll is based on characteristic pattern, flattened horizontally, and with the final part of the volute constricted around the eye; the front has a triangular shape, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, and the walls of the volute are often over-cut. The back of the peg box ends at the chin with a raised tip, also typical of Guadagnini. The F-holes are positioned at a strong tilt, especially during the last period, and the purfling meets at the corners in a very elongated joint.
