Albrecht Dürer’s monogram. tures as a symbol of origin. This practice originated from thetradition of stonemasons, goldsmiths that were regularly applying their marks to their works in order to be able to claim “ownership” until they were paid, but also to provide a form of guarantee of the quality of the metal used. By the first half of the fifteenth century, this practice was also adopted by engravers that had links to the goldsmith trade, and that were working with mechanically reproduced self-financed print works. One of the famous engravers that adopted similar practices was Martin Schongauer who according to Koerner worked with monograms “as part of a strategy for making mechanical reproductions pay” when the “artist is potentially absent…from the community of viewers who initially purchase and use the image”.31 82 figure2
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