The Life of the Virgin.

7 engravings, 27,5 x 21,5 cm, laid paper with watermark (circle with letter M: not in Briquet), signed in plate with AD monogram, numbered at lower edge (some creases and tears at corners, ink loss due to centr. horiz. fold at "The Betrothal of the Virgin").

A nice ensemble of 7 engravings from the Life of the Virgin series (20 blocks), copied after the original series by Dürer. Marcantonio Raimondi (1475-before 1534) made engraved copies of seventeen of them and was, as Vasari reports, selling them as originals in Venice in 1506. Marcantonio's admiration for Dürer was based on more than purely commercial considerations, and had a formative influence on his career as an engraver. Dürer's woodcuts had raised the standard of the medium considerably, and since Marcantonio continued to copy a large number of both Dürer's engravings and woodcuts, he must have found it profitable. His early copies included Dürer's famous AD monogram, and Dürer famously made a complaint to the Venetian government. This won him some legal protection for his monogram in Venetian territory. It was one of the first instances of copyright protection against plagiarism in the slowly evolving history of intellectual property law.
Prov. Duke of Arenberg (Coll. stamp on verso, Lugt 567).
Ref. Bartsch 621-627. - L. Pon, Raphael, "Dürer and Marcantonio Raimondi: Copying and the Italian Renaissance Print", London 2004.
Joined: After Albrecht Dürer - The Flagellation of Christ, from the "Engraved Passion" series. Reverse copy. Nuremberg, 1512. Engraving, 11,5 x 7,5 cm, laid paper, signed and dated in the plate with monogram (trimmed to platemark). Ref. Meder 8 (copy). - Bartsch VII.8. (8 pcs)