93 frantzeska papadopoulou skarp gin series Dürer included a text where he warned those that were planning to copy his prints: Marcantonio’s copying of the prints from the The Life of the Virgin series became the most well-known case, most probably due to the attention this received in Vasari’s Lives of the Artists. According to Vasari, Marcantonio encountered Dürer’s woodcuts through Flemish artists that had arrived in Venice during the same time, bringing with them several of Dürer’s prints. He was so impressed by Dürer’s work that he spent all his savings in order to acquire them. He then dedicated his time in studying in detail how these prints were constructed. His copies were so successful that it was not possible for someone to discern that these were not made by Dürer himself. And this is most probably the reason why Dürer was so concerned about the effect these might have on his position in the market.41 Koerner compares Raimondi’s copy of Joachim and the Angel, an early work in Dürer’s Life of the Virgin series, with the original. The original was created by Dürer around 1503, while according to Koerner Marcantonio’s copy was made in 1506.42 1506 is the year that Dürer travelled to Venice for the last time, and the year he wrote the letter in which he complains of the counterfeiters of his artwork. In both prints, both the original and the Marcantonio copy, the AD monogram is included in a “cartellino”, in the lower right corner, (see figure 9and10, p. 94–95). 40 Published by McCabe, Sophia ‘Albrecht Dürer and the Significance of Artist Networks’, Huntington blog https://www.huntington.org/verso/albrecht-durer-and-significanceartist-networks (last visited 15 July 2025) 41 Karol, Peter, ‘Albrecht Dürer’s Enforcement Actions: ATrademark Origin Story’. 25 Vand. J. Ent. & Tech. L.421 (2023), New England Law, Boston Research Paper No. 22– 07, pp. 423–440. 42 Koerner, Joseph, The Moment of Self-Portraiture in German Renaissance Art, Chicago, 1993, pp.187. “Beware you envious thieves of the work and invention of others, keep your thoughtless hands from these works of ours. We have received a privilege from the famous Emperor of Rome, Maximilan, that no one shall dare to print these works in spurious forms, nor sell such prints within the boundaries of the Empire…. printed in Nuremberg by Albrecht Dürer. In 1515 an Italian edition of the Apocalypse was published with woodcuts copies of Dürer’s prints”40
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=