Marcantonio Raimondi (Italian, c. 1480-1534)
after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528)
The Ill-Assorted Couple (The Offer of Love)
INV-6136
Marcantonio Raimondi (Italian, c. 1480-1534)
after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528)c. 1506
The Ill-Assorted Couple (The Offer of Love)
Marcantonio Raimondi (Italian, c. 1480-1534) after Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528) →engravingprint
Date
c. 1506
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
15.5 × 14.1 cm (6 1/8 × 5 9/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
John H. Wrenn Memorial Collection
Albrecht Dürer resorted to legal action to protect his artworks from copyists, based in part on Marcantonio Raimondi’s practice of reissuing woodcuts from Dürer’s Life of the Virgin book as engravings. This secular engraving (representing two lovers acting out of ulterior, financial motives) is one case in which the print media matches the original. Stylistically, there is no comparison between the intricacy of Dürer’s lines and Marcantonio’s dryer flecks and outlines. But contemporary buyers did not always know the difference. Although Dürer won the right to exclusive use of his “AD” monogram, the Venetian senate ruled that his images could still be copied.