Gaudenzio Marconi was born in Italy, 1841. Alhough there is little information on his early life, Marconi played a significant role in the development of early photography.
In 1869, after moving to Paris, Gaudenzio began photographing nude academic subjects for artists and sculptors of the period, most notably for Auguste Rodin. Rodin's sculptures, both the human modeling figures and the finished sculptures, known as the "Age of Bronze" are based on photographs produced by Marconi.

Marconi became particularly preoccupied with the art of photography. After the death of Auguste Belloc, (the early erotic creator of daguerreotype and the wet-plate collodion process), Marconi took over Belloc's studio and negatives. From there, Marconi is known to have been the first creator of large photographic prints, although their existence is very rare today.

During his life, Marconi was not known as a photography pioneer but considered by his peers to be a "photographer of the academy of arts". His classical use of pronounced attitude, gesturing of body positions, lighting and the adding of "painting elements" such as cherubs became characteristic of his work.

In the early postcard era, Marconi's nude images began to appear anonymously. Much later, as people began to note photography as an art, Marconi became known. Unfortunately, Marconi did not live to see this happen as he died in Paris, 1885, at the young age of forty-four.