Engraving, circa 1540-1565. Signed "bacius florentinus" in the plate.

I. 41.0 x 57.0 cm, S. 41.0 x 57.0 cm.

Bartsch 21. The second, final state, with remnants of the address of Lafreri in the plate lower center.

The Massacre of the Innocents was a popular composition by the Florentine Renaissance artist Bandinelli, a contemporary of Michelangelo (1475-1564) and often seen as a jealous rival. No fewer than two known printmakers, Dente and Beatrizet, made contemporaneous engravings based on the Bandinelli design, and there are also copies of their engravings by anonymous printmakers during the 16th century.

According to the Princeton University Art Museum, which has an impression of the Marco Dente's engraving of the subject, "Dente renders the image of the slaughter of children as a manifestly vigorous and methodical act. The soldiers appear as classical nudes, swords raised and bodies turned in balanced counterpoint, in front of a theatrical backdrop of classicizing architecture. The symmetrical composition underscores the ferocity of the attack while effectively highlighting the exacting one-point perspective of the composition. Dente died in the Sack of Rome in 1527, a catastrophic event that precipitated the exodus of many artists, including Marcantonio [Raimondi] and Parmigianino. Their relocation to other urban centers in Italy amplified the diffusion of High Renaissance styles, which prints such as those by Dente had helped disseminate."

PROVENANCE
Dr. C. Axel Widstrand (Sweden 1866-1956), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 2630a); The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969).