MARCO DENTE. – Engraver, b. in Ravenna ca. 1492; d. in Rome in 1527. Pupil of Marcantonio Raimondi, he lacked a strong personality and was influenced by Agostino Veneziano. He had a delicate burin line, showing himself a virtuoso, yet without inventiveness.
He drew his compositions from Raphael, Giulio Romano, Francesco Salviati, Baccio Bandinelli; but above all he copied from ancient classical sculptures, revealing the typical accent of his personality in his ability to place them in spatial and landscape settings. Among his prints are remembered: the *Massacre of the Innocents*, the *Dance of the Cupids*, *Dares and Entellus* and the *Laocoön* signed in full: Marcus Ravenas. The initials of his signatures are: D., DR.
Bibl.: M. Thode, *Die Antiken in den Stichen Marc'Anton's, Agostino Veneziano's und M. D.'s*, Leipzig 1881; F. Kristeller, s. V. in *Thieme-Becker*, IX, p. 82 (with bibliography); M. Pittaluga, *L'incisione italiana nel Cinquecento*, Milan 1930, p. 166 ff.; A. De Witt, *R. galleria degli Uffizi. La collezione delle stampe*, Rome 1938, p. 56.