37. after Raphael (1483-1520),
engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi (1475/80-1527/34)
A Muse

(click on image to print)
after Raphael, A Muse

A Muse

Engraving, 1511-1520, from Apollo, Minerva and the Muses, Bartsch 270. Fine impression on laid paper trimmed on or just inside the platemark, showing the borderline all around, and with the number 9 at the lower left (not described by Bartsch). The paper is similar to that one sees on other early impressions of Marcantonio prints. The specific muse is not named and the lack of an attribute (lyre, scroll, mask, etc) makes identification impossible. The print is one in a series after drawings by Raphael, inspired by Classical prototypes on a sarcophagus which, in the sixteenth century, was located in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome and hence accessible to Raphael. A minor work, certainly, but redolent of more than one great artistic tradition.