A lion, dragon and fox fighting each other, an inscribed banderole above, an oval composition

Art Historical Context

In the bustling world of early 16th-century Italian printmaking, Marco D's engraving *A lion, dragon and fighting each other, an banderole above, oval composition* (ca. 1515–27) captures dramatic clash of mythical and symbolic beasts. Created during the High Renaissance, this small-scale work (4 3/16 × 6 1/4 in.) showcases Dente's mastery of, a precise intaglio technique where lines are incised into a metal plate with a burin, inked, and pressed onto paper. This method allowed artists like Dente to produce detailed, reproducible images that democratized access to complex designs, bridging the gap between elite painting and everyday audiences. The oval composition—trimmed neatly to the image—frames a fierce melee: a noble lion, cunning fox, and fearsome dragon locked in combat, overlooked by a fluttering banderole bearing an inscription (likely a moral or emblematic phrase, common in period prints). Such fantastical animal battles evoked fables and allegories, symbolizing virtues, vices, or political strife, and reflected the era's fascination with antiquity and emblem books. Dente, active in Rome, drew from Renaissance motifs blending nature, myth, and humanism. Today, this rarity from The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Elisha Whittelsey Collection highlights printmaking's golden age, inviting visitors to ponder the timeless drama of struggle and survival in intricate lines etched over 500 years ago.

About the Artist

Marco Dente · 1515–1527

Marco Dente (died 1527), also known as Marco da Ravenna, was among the most accomplished printmakers working in Rome during the High Renaissance, a period that witnessed an extraordinary flowering of engraving as both a reproductive and an independent artistic medium. Little is known of his early training, but by the second decade of the sixteenth century he had established himself in the orbit of...