Hind, Arthur Mayger; British Museum / Department of Prints and Drawings; Colvin, Sidney [Hrsg.]: Catalogue of early Italian engravings preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum (1) (London: British Museum, 1910)

542

Known Masters and their Immediate Followers.

FRANCESCO FRANCIA (RAIBOLINI).
Francesco Raibolini (Francia) figures in Passavant as the en-
graver of four plates which had been generally attributed to Mar-
cantonio (the Baptism, B. xiv. 22; Virgin and Child enthroned and
two saints, 0. ii. 791, 35 ; Catherine and 8. Lucy, B. xiv. 121; and the
Judgment of Paris, B. xiv. 339). J. A. Calvi (Memorie della Vita ed
Opere di F.B., detto il Francia, Bologna, 1812) seems to have been the
first thus to suggest any of these attributions to Francia from among
the plates usually ascribed to his famous pupil (i.e. the Baptism}.
The reasons given for the attribution, viz. a supposed greater mastery
of form and fineness of handling than are generally found in
Marcantonio’s earliest work, seem to us quite unconvincing:
accordingly the prints in question are in the Museum collection
left with Marcantonio. It is among the nielli that Francia’s engraved
work is more definitely known ; and these do not fall within the
scope of the present catalogue.