M. A. RAIMONDI.

The invention of the art of taking impressions on paper from an engraved plate is, on the authority of Vasari, usually ascribed to Tommaso Finiguerra, a celebrated enameller and chaser, of Florence, who, having occasion to make a sulphur cast from a piece of plate in 1460, observed that the charcoal dust and dirt which had collected in the engraved lines of the metal were brought off upon the sulphur, so as to present a counterpart of his work. Struck by the appearance, he tried to produce a similar effect by passing moistened paper over the plate, under pressure from a roller; and the experiment succeeded. This is a natural and a probable account; from the earliest antiquity the graver has been employed in embellishing armour, vessels of the precious metals, and other valuable articles of use and ornament; and it is certain that the earliest Italian engravers were, by profession, workers in gold and silver. It is strange indeed that so obvious an extension of the uses of engraving should not have been observed sooner; but all experience teaches us that a very important discovery may long lie very near the surface, before it meets with an observer sufficiently clear-sighted or fortunate to bring it to light. The Germans, however, contest priority of invention in this art with the Italians. The matter is of no great importance, even to the national fame of the two lands. Those prints which date before Albert Durer in the one, and before Marc Antonio in the other, possess little value either for their design or their execution, however precious they may be to collectors for their rarity, or to antiquaries and artists as historical records of the art.

Engraved by W. Holl.MARC ANTONIO RAIMONDI.From a Print by Rosaspina, after a Picture by Raphael.Under the Superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.London, Published by Charles Knight & Co. Ludgate Street.

Marc Antonio Raimondi was born at Bologna, about the year 1488: the dates of his birth and death are not mentioned by Vasari, who is the sole original authority for the private history of this artist. He learnt the art of design from Francesco Francia, or Raibolini, after whom he has sometimes been denominated Marc Antonio di Francia: his first instructor in the use of the graver is said to have been a goldsmith.And as Hogarth set out on his career of art by ornamenting tankards and shop-bills, so Marc Antonio at first gained his livelihood as a jeweller’s workman. The first of his copper-plates which bears a date represents the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, and was engraved in 1505[1]; but he is said to have executed others before it, among which we find one only, the Four Horsemen, mentioned by name.

1.Heinekin says 1502, by mistake. The print of Apollo and Hyacinth bears also the date of 1505.

Induced by the desire of improvement in his art, he took a journey to Venice. Here, for the first time, he saw Albert Durer’s engravings on wood; which he admired so highly, both for correctness of outline and accuracy of workmanship, that he bought the series of thirty-six pieces, representing the passion of our Saviour, at a price which very nearly exhausted his slender purse. These wood-cuts he copied upon copper, with so much success that they were mistaken for the originals; and Vasari says that Albert Durer complained in great anger to the Venetian senate of the injury thus done to him, and obtained no other redress than an order that Antonio should abstain from imitating his signature. The Baron Heineken, on the contrary, asserts that the existing copies of these prints do not bear the German artist’s mark, and that no one has seen copies which do bear it; and he believes the story, if founded on fact, to refer to a series of prints representing the life of the Virgin Mary, in seventeen prints, which are exactly copied from Durer, even to his cipher.

From Venice Marc Antonio went to Rome, where, to his inestimable benefit, he became acquainted with Raphael, who perceived and assisted his talents, certainly by advice, and, some say, even by manual help. The outlines of Antonio’s plates after Raphael have been said to be executed by the painter himself: but this is solely conjecture; and it appears improbable that, in an art depending so much upon manual dexterity, the more unpractised hand should be the superior in precision and delicacy. But that Raphael was very much pleased with the justice which Antonio rendered to his designs is certain. He sent to Albert Durer copies of the Bolognese engraver’s works; and Durer, however jealous he might be, and however justly displeased at past occurrences, could not deny his rival’s merit, and acknowledged the courtesy by sending impressions of his own works in return. The honour of Raphael’s patronage, the admirable choice of subjects afforded by his pictures, and the real benefit which any lover and cultivator of art must have derived from his society, all combined to raise Antonio’s fame; and many pupils came to study under him,among whom Marco di Ravenna, Agostino di Musis, and Giulio Bonasoni, whose plates are highly valued by collectors, may be named as most eminent.

After the death of Raphael, Antonio was largely employed by Raphael’s distinguished pupil, Giulio Romano, and executed, among other things, the designs which accompanied Aretin’s notorious sonnets. These engravings attracted the just indignation of Pope Clement VII., who cast the artist into prison. His release was procured by the interference and interest of Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici and Baccio Bandinelli; and, as a testimony of gratitude to the latter, Antonio executed the engraving from his picture of the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence. This print is twenty-one inches by sixteen in dimensions, and is the largest and one of the finest of the artist’s works. It procured for him the entire forgiveness and favour of the offended pontiff. The plates to Aretin were so carefully suppressed, that not a single specimen of them is now certainly known to exist.

When Rome was plundered by the Spaniards, in 1520, Marc Antonio lost all his property. He returned to Bologna after this misfortune, and was still leading a retired life there in 1539: the battle of Centaurs and Lapithæ bears date in that year, and is the last certain memorial of him. The combat of Hector and Achilles, dated in 1546, though attributed to Marc Antonio, is considered by the Baron Heineken to be at least doubtful. Malvasia relates that a Roman nobleman, for whom Antonio had engraved a print of the Massacre of Innocents, with an undertaking never to repeat the subject, caused the artist to be assassinated for re-engraving it. But it casts a doubt on the truth of this story, that it is not even alluded to by Vasari.

Marc Antonio’s plates passed through the hands of Tommaso Barlacchi, Antonio Salamanca, Antonio Lafreri, Nicholas Van Aelst, and Rossi, or De Rubeis, of Rome. Of these publishers, the impressions which bear Salamanca’s name, are most esteemed: but the best are those which have no publisher’s name at all. The Baron Heineken, in his elaborate ‘Dictionnaire des Artistes dont nous avons des Estampes,’ (from which this memoir is little more than a free translation,) has given a minute catalogue of the works attributable to Marc Antonio. He divides them into four classes:—prints really engraved by the master, and bearing his marks, in number, 120; prints engraved by him, but without mark, 126; prints doubtful, 66; and prints which belong to his era, and to his school, but are by unknown hands. In this reckoning, series like the Passion ofChrist, which consist of many plates, are counted only as single works. Strutt, in his Dictionary of Engravers, and Bryan, in his Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, give lists of the more remarkable of Antonio’s productions; Bryan is the fuller, but neither of them pretend to compete in extent and detail with the catalogue of Heineken; whom Strutt has closely followed in his biographical notice of this artist. He has given fac-similes of this engraver’s marks, seven in number, in plate 9, vol. ii. We quote the following passages in illustration of Marc Antonio’s merits and peculiar characteristics, from the Essay on the History of Engraving, which is prefixed to Strutt’s work.

“His engravings are often defective in point of harmony, and the skilful management of the light and shadow, which gives them an unfinished and sometimes disgustful appearance to the common eye. On the other hand, a graceful flow of outline, joined with purity and correctness of drawing in its greatest latitude, are found in the best works of this master; but these beauties rarely attract the general notice without the assistance of neatness, or what is more properly called high finishing, especially in the present day (1786). The eye, long accustomed to neatness and delicacy of finishing, especially where the judgment is not capable of distinguishing the greater essentials of the art, will necessarily consider that neatness to be the criterion of excellency. Hence it is that the works of the old masters are fallen into such general disrepute: their beauties are overlooked, and their faults are viewed through a magnifying medium. And it is perhaps because Marc Antonio stands the first among the old masters, that he has received a greater share of censure than the rest.

“The excellency of this master consists in the correctness of his drawing, the character of his heads, and the pure idea his works convey of the simplicity and elegance of the originals they are taken from: and they may be considered as admirable drawings, not highly finished indeed, but sufficiently so to preserve the design and spirit of the masters from whom he worked.

“That persons possessed of little judgment in the arts should not discover the merits of this engraver, cannot surprise us; but that artists themselves, and experienced collectors, should join in the common censure, is much more extraordinary. In these instances, we may conclude, he has been too hastily, as he has certainly been unjustly, condemned, without a proper examination of his works in their native state. Such as generally appear at sales, and too many of those in the hands of collectors, are either worn-out impressions, or what isstill worse, retouched ones. In these the primitive beauty is entirely lost. Let any one, for instance, examine the common impressions of that admirable engraving of this master, representing the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, from Baccio Bandinelli, which is the largest of all his prints, and he will find the outlines darkened with black strokes upon the lights, and the demitints upon the flesh increased, so as nearly to equal the deep shadows; by which means all the breadths of light are destroyed, and cut into a variety of disagreeable divisions, which produce a disgustful and inharmonious effect. But in a fine impression of the same plate, there are none of these disagreeable crudities to be found; the shadows are judiciously softened and blended into the lights, and harmonized with each other; the outlines are neat and correct; and the characters of the heads admirably well expressed. In short, he would scarcely believe it possible that the same plate should furnish impressions, so beautiful in one state, and so truly execrable in the other. But the wonder ceases, if he be told that the plate, passing through a variety of hands, has been frequently retouched, and that by careless and unskilful men. We may further add, that as the name of Marc Antonio stands high among the curious collectors, the ignorant are too frequently imposed upon by bad copies, or spurious productions.”

A very excellent and extensive collection of the engravings of Marc Antonio, and of his pupils, exists in the British Museum, which, with the exception of a few of the extremely rare prints, presents a better assemblage than most public or private cabinets can boast of, whether as to number, beauty of impression, or condition.

[Poesy, from a print by Marc Antonio.]

Engraved by J. Posselwhite.COKE.From a Picture in the Hall of Sergeant’s Inn, Chancery Lane.Under the Superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.London, Published by Charles Knight & Co. Ludgate Street.

Back to Index Next