DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7598#0317
CHAP. IX.]
MARC ANTONIO RA1MONDI.
775
" naged the burin with ease and taste, made girdles and many
" other things ornamented with niello, which were then in use, of"
" great beauty; he being in that mode of workmanship truly excel-
" lent. Becoming at length, as happens to many, desirous to
" travel, that he might see the productions of other masters, and
" observe the different processes used by them in their works, he
" took leave of Francia and repaired to Venice, where he was well
" received by the artists of that city.
" It happened that at this time certain Flemings came to
" Venice, with a great many prints, engraved both in wood and
" copper, by Albert Durer; which being seen by Marc'Antonio,
" in the Piazza di S. Marco, he was so much astonished by their
" style of execution, and the skill displayed by Albert, that he laid
" out upon those prints almost all the money he had brought with
" him from Bologna, and amongst other things purchased the
" Passion of Jesus Christ, engraved on thirty-six wooden blocks
" of a small quarto size, which Albert had recently published;
" which work commenced with the fall of Adam and his expulsion
" from Paradise by the Angel, and ended with the descent of the
" Holy Ghost upon the Apostles. Marc' Antonio therefore having
" considered how much honour as well as advantage might be
" acquired by one who should devote himself to that art in Italy,
" resolved to attend to it with the greatest diligence; and imme-
« diately began to copy those engravings of Albert, studying their
" mode of hatching, and every thing else in the prints that he had
" purchased, which, from their novelty as well as beauty, were in
" such repute, that every one desired to possess them. Having
« therefore counterfeited in the copper, with bold hatchings, like
" those in the wood-prints which Albert had engraved, all this
" series of thirty-six pieces of the Life and Passion of Christ, and
" having marked them with the mark which Albert used upon his
" prints, that is A E," (Vasari doubtless meant A D), " they ap-
" peared so similar in their manner, that, nobody knowing Marc'
" Antonio had done them, they were believed to be the genuine
MARC ANTONIO RA1MONDI.
775
" naged the burin with ease and taste, made girdles and many
" other things ornamented with niello, which were then in use, of"
" great beauty; he being in that mode of workmanship truly excel-
" lent. Becoming at length, as happens to many, desirous to
" travel, that he might see the productions of other masters, and
" observe the different processes used by them in their works, he
" took leave of Francia and repaired to Venice, where he was well
" received by the artists of that city.
" It happened that at this time certain Flemings came to
" Venice, with a great many prints, engraved both in wood and
" copper, by Albert Durer; which being seen by Marc'Antonio,
" in the Piazza di S. Marco, he was so much astonished by their
" style of execution, and the skill displayed by Albert, that he laid
" out upon those prints almost all the money he had brought with
" him from Bologna, and amongst other things purchased the
" Passion of Jesus Christ, engraved on thirty-six wooden blocks
" of a small quarto size, which Albert had recently published;
" which work commenced with the fall of Adam and his expulsion
" from Paradise by the Angel, and ended with the descent of the
" Holy Ghost upon the Apostles. Marc' Antonio therefore having
" considered how much honour as well as advantage might be
" acquired by one who should devote himself to that art in Italy,
" resolved to attend to it with the greatest diligence; and imme-
« diately began to copy those engravings of Albert, studying their
" mode of hatching, and every thing else in the prints that he had
" purchased, which, from their novelty as well as beauty, were in
" such repute, that every one desired to possess them. Having
« therefore counterfeited in the copper, with bold hatchings, like
" those in the wood-prints which Albert had engraved, all this
" series of thirty-six pieces of the Life and Passion of Christ, and
" having marked them with the mark which Albert used upon his
" prints, that is A E," (Vasari doubtless meant A D), " they ap-
" peared so similar in their manner, that, nobody knowing Marc'
" Antonio had done them, they were believed to be the genuine