Melancholy

The fact that Raimondi’s prints and Raphael’s compositions never ceased to inspire and influence even distant generations is rather apparent from their numerous later copies and quotations. The author of one of the copies is Dominique Vivant Denon (1747-1825). This remarkable man trained in graphic art in Naples, where he was active as a French diplomat. Later, he took part in Napoleon’s military campaign to Egypt, executing numerous drawings on the way, which he transferred to prints upon his return and published them in the form of albums. Having been appointed the first director of the Louvre in 1802 he, beside other things, decided which works from the conquered countries would become the collection items of the Paris museum. Toward the end of his life, he focused his interest on research and his private collections. The copy by Denon faithfully follows the Raimondi’s print both in composition and in hatching. The French engraver, however, employed here the medium of etching, which is more reminiscent of a drawing than the sharper copper engraving, and he in addition modified the subject of the print.