t, besides losing all his property, he was forced to
disburse a good ransom in order to escape from the hands of the
Spaniards. Which done, he departed from Rome, never to return; and
there are few works to be seen which were executed by him after that
time. Our arts are much indebted to Marc' Antonio, in that he made a
beginning with engraving in Italy, to the advantage and profit of art
and to the convenience of her followers, in consequence of which others
have since executed the works that will be described hereafter.

Now Agostino Viniziano, of whom we have already spoken, came to
Florence, after the circumstances described above, with the intention of
attaching himself to Andrea del Sarto, who was held to be about the best
painter in Italy after Raffaello. And so Andrea, persuaded by this
Agostino to have his works engraved, made a drawing of a Dead Christ
supported by three Angels; but since the attempt did not succeed exactly
according to his fancy, he would never again allow any work of his to be
engraved. After his death, however, certain persons published engravings
of the Visitation of S. Elizabeth and of the Baptism of the people by S.
John, taken from the work in chiaroscuro that Andrea painted in the
Scalzo at Florence. Marco da Ravenna, likewise, in addition to the works
already mentioned, which he executed in company with Agostino, also
engraved many others by himself, which are all good and worthy of
praise, and are known by his signature, which has been described above.
Many others, also, have there been after these, who have worked very
well at engraving, and have brought it about that every country has been
able to see and enjoy the honoured labours of the most excellent
masters.

Nor has there been wanting one who has had the enterprise to execute
with wood-blocks prints that possess the appearance of having been made
with the brush after the manner of chiaroscuro, which is an ingenious
and difficult thing. This was Ugo da Carpi, who, although he was a
mediocre painter, was nevertheless a man of most subtle wit in strange
and fanciful inventions. He it was, as has been related in the thirtieth
chapter of the Treatise on Technique, who first attempted, and that with
the happiest result, to work with two blocks, one of which he used for
hatching the shadows, in the manner of a copper-plate, and with the
other he made the tint of colour, cutting deeply with the strokes of the
engraving, and leaving t