Marcantonio Raimondi, often called simply Marcantonio, was an Italian engraver, known for being the first important printmaker whose body of work consists largely of prints copying paintings. He is therefore a key figure in the rise of the reproductive print. He also systematized a technique of engraving that became dominant in Italy and elsewhere. His collaboration with Raphael greatly helped his career, and he continued to exploit Raphael's works after the painter's death in 1520, playing a large part in spreading High Renaissance styles across Europe. Much of the biographical information we have comes from his life, the only one of a printmaker, in Vasari's Lives of the Artists.
Plate of Marcantonio, from Le vite de’ piv eccellenti pittori, scvltori, e architettori (Fiorenza: Appresso i Giunti, 1568), by Giorgio Vasari
The Massacre of the Innocents, designed by Raphael to be engraved
Lucretia, engraved by Raimondi after a design by Raphael.
Judgement of Paris, c. 1515, Marcantonio after Raphael
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing images on paper as prints or illustrations; these images are also called "engravings". Engraving is one of the oldest and most important techniques in printmaking. Wood engraving is a form of relief printing and is not covered in this article, same with rock engravings like petroglyphs.
St. Jerome in His Study (1514), engraving by Northern Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer
Artist and engraver Chaim Goldberg at work
An assortment of hand engraving tools
Stone engraving