RAIMONDI, Marcantonio
(b. ca. 1480, Bologna, d. ca. 1534, Bologna)

The Adoration of the Shepherds

after 1515
Engraving, 124 x 97 cm
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

This outstanding engraving was made after Dürer's woodcut from the series of Life of the Virgin.

Marcantonio Raimondi, from Bologna, was the best copyist of Dürer's graphic prints in Italy, and worked faster than any other; he was also the most damaging to Dürer's own business. In all, his workshop produced copies of eight engravings and over 60 woodcuts by the Nuremberg master, and to Dürer's great annoyance they came on the art market as genuine. According to Vasari, Raimondi had acquired his models in the Piazza di San Marco in Venice.