Massacre of the Innocents,

ca. 1520

Marco Dente specialized in reproductive prints and learned engraving in the workshop of Marcantonio Raimondi. Massacre of the Innocents is based on a design by the Florentine sculptor and draftsman Baccio Bandinelli. Dente renders the image of the slaughter of children as a manifestly vigorous and methodical act. The soldiers appear as classical nudes, swords raised and bodies turned in balanced counterpoint, in front of a theatrical backdrop of classicizing architecture. The symmetrical composition underscores the ferocity of the attack while effectively highlighting the exacting one-point perspective of the composition. Dente died in the Sack of Rome in 1527, a catastrophic event that precipitated the exodus of many artists, including Marcantonio and Parmigianino. Their relocation to other urban centers in Italy amplified the diffusion of High Renaissance styles, which prints such as those by Dente had helped disseminate.