Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/509

Rh those who distinguished themselves above all others were Marco of Ravenna, who placed on his works the signature of Raphael, R. S. namely, and Agostino Veneziano, who signed his works with the letters A. V. These two engravers executed many of the designs of Raffaello, one of Our Lady namely, with the Saviour dead and extended at her feet, San Giovanni, the Magdalene, Nicodemus, and the other Maries being at the feet of the Redeemer, and another of much larger size, wherein is also represented the Virgin with her arms raised and her eyes turned towards heaven, while the Saviour lies extended in death, as in that previously mentioned.

Agostino afterwards engraved a large plate of the Birth of Christ with the Shepherds and Angels, the Almighty Father being above all: around the cabin the artist furthermore arranged vases, some of ancient and others of modern form, with a censer or fumigating vessel represented by two women bearing a perforated vase on their heads. He likewise engraved a plate, the subject of which is a Man changed into a Wolf, and stealing towards the bed of one who is sleeping and whom he is about to destroy; with another exhibiting Alexander and Roxana, to whom the king presents a royal crown, while certain little Loves are hovering around them, some are engaged in decorating the head of Roxana, and othejrs are sporting with the arms of Alexander.

The two artists together then engraved the Last Supper with the twelve Apostles on a tolerably large plate, and an Annunciation, both after the designs of Raphael, and they subsequently engraved two stories from the marriage of