The Last Supper, (with Christ sitting in the center embracing John), after Durer

Marcantonio Raimondi

Marcantonio Raimondi attempted to capture the subtleties of Dürer’s woodcut style by using the more precise medium of engraving. In contrast to Dürer’s variegated tones and animated, angular lines, Raimondi’s burin strokes produce uniform parallel strokes, creating a homogeneous grey tone that contrasts sharply with the areas left white. The copy also loses most of the specificity of detail and texture found in Dürer’s original composition.

Raimondi and his publishers, the Dal Jesus family, were the defendants in the first art-specific lawsuit in Venice in 1506, the complaintant being printmaker Albrecht Durer who brought the complaint before the Venetian Senate after Marcantonio sold copies of his 'Life of the Virgin' woodcuts.

Marcantonio discovered a set of Albrecht Dürer's 'Life of the Virgin' woodcuts in Venice, spent all of his money to purchase it, and proceeded to make engraved copies of each the pieces including Dürer's monogram.

Since Dürer had made woodcuts, not engraving the Senate decided that since the images belonged to all of Christianity, Dürer could not claim ownership, but that his name belonged to him, and so it ordered Marcantonio not to use Dürer's monogram in his own copies.

Raimondi's engraved series like this impression from Durer's 'Small Passion' woodcut series is never found in Marcantonio's engravings with the monogram. This impression has been trimmed within the platemark.