MARC ANTONIO RAIMONDI

Marcantonio Raimondi

Engraver, b. at Bologna, 1475 (1480?); d. there, 1530 (1534?). He studied under the goldsmith and niellist Francia, and later often signed his work M-A. F., F referring to his teacher. His earliest plate (1505), "Pyramus and Thisbe", shows a goldsmith-like shading. His first artistic stimulation came from seeing plates by Durer, some of which he copied (1506) with such perfection that they sold as originals. When rebuked by the Venetian Senate on Durer's complaint, the young man subsequently added his own to Durer's initials. From Lucas of Leyden Raimondi also learned much; his burin gained in mellowness from engraving Perazzo's work. Rapidly assimilating and always simplifying, Marcantonio's "Mars and Cupid" (1508) finds him master of technic and finished in style.

About this time Raimondi left for Rome, stopping at Florence to sketch Michelangelo's (lost) cartoon "The Climbers", which he afterwards engraved in Rome (1510). Seeing a proof of this Raphael exclaimed: "It is the finest I have ever seen and the finest that can be seen!" The two artists became friends and Raimondi's next work was Raphael's "The Death of Lucretia". This and later plates show the darks becoming less dramatic and the burin work more "open". Raphael left much to Raimondi, never giving him a finished picture but a pencil or pen outline-drawing, knowing that the proper treatment and elaboration would come from his engraver; and hence there is often a marked discrepancy between an oil by Raphael and Raimondi's engraving thereof. Marcantonio's triumphs in Rome equalled those of Raphael; Durer wrote for proofs from his hand, and German engravers flocked to Rome to study under him. Romano and Aretino subsequently induced him to engrave obscene or suggestive plates, for which he was imprisoned by Pope Clement, who, however, freed him several months later at the solicitation of Cardinal de Medici. In 1527, at the sack of Rome, he is said to have escaped, leaving a fortune and his plates in the victors' hands. Some authorities record that he died four years before this, heartbroken at the death of Raphael. Raimondi opened up a new province of the burin reproduction; he inspired the largest following that ever an engraver had, and he drew as well as da Vinci or Raphael. "His sentiment was noble, his taste pure" (Delaborde); his style, simple and sober, his modelling of figures beautiful, and he was the first engraver who omitted details. Of texture, tone, and local colour of modern engravers he had not a trace. Raimondi engraved about six hundred plates. His best are: "Adam and Eve" (probably the finest); "Virgin with the Bare Arm"; "Massacre of the Innocents"; "The Plague"; "The Judgment of Paris" (with a trace of goldsmith-like shading). [Adapted from Catholic Encyclopedia (1911)]

From: http://www.malaspina.org/home.asp?topic=./search/details&lastpage=./search/results&ID=681

As one of the first printmakers, Marc'Antonio Raimondi is known as the "Father of reproductive engraving." Giorgio Vasari, a 16th century biographer, who focused his attention on furthering the fame of Italian artists, wrote this of Raimondi: "Our arts are much indebted to Marc'Antonio, in that he made a beginning with engraving in Italy, to the advantage and profit of art and to the convenience of her followers." One of the reasons for Raimondi's fame was that his prints reproduced the perfectly proportioned and highly idealized representations of many famous Italian Renaissance artists. Vasari continues his praise of Raimondi in these words: "His engravings were held in higher estimation, on account of their good design, than those of the Flemings [Northerners]."

Karl Marx wrote: "The object of art, as well as any other product, creates an artistic and beauty-enjoying public. Production thus produces not only an object for the individual, but also an individual for the object." As a reproductive engraver, Raimondi's primary interest was to make a living with his art. To this end, he copied the already famous works of Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, and Durer in the print medium. The reproducability of prints allowed him to sell multiple copies of the same work, thus greatly increasing his profit. Vasari, a 16th-century biographer, emphasizes Raimondi's purpose with the following statement: "Now, the fame of Marc'Antonio having grown very great, and the art of engraving having come into credit and repute, many disciples had themselves under him in order to learn it, and the merchants made very large profits."

With a renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman civilization, artists of the 18th and 19th centuries were influenced by the Classical search for ideal beauty in the human form. Art critics like Johann Joachim Winckelmann were influential in spreading a passion for the art of antiquity. Winckelmann declared that "there is but one way for the moderns to become great, and perhaps unequaled, I mean by imitating the ancient." Artists of the 18th and 19th centuries copied works from the Renaissance that exhibited ancient forms and themes. The popularity and the need for such classical models is witnessed at the turn of the 19th century when Adam Von Bartsch compiled a catalog of all Raimondi's engravings.