like his depiction of The Massacre of the innocents, and The Judgement of Paris, are all reproductive in nature. Dente and the other members of Raimondi's school were specifically influenced by the works of Raphael. The workshop frequently used preliminary drawings from Raphael's studio to inform its practice, his studies of the city's archaeological remains were specifically influential. Both Raphael and Dente had 'mutual interests in the ruins of Rome' - mirroring the general trend of Roman and the Greek classical antiquity becoming more influential throughout the Renaissance. Laocoon One of the most notable of Dente's pieces, and the one which seems to define the relatively unknown printmaker, is his version of the Laocoon. (Fig. 1) The Laocoon is described in Virgil's passage in The Aeneid. This print by Dente is significant in that it was engraved just after he witnessed the excavation of an ancient statue of the same subject in 1506. Dente was heavily influenced by classical antiquity. His pieces Hercules and Antaeus, and Entellus and Dares, also depict figures based on ancient sculptures. The sculpture of Laocoon and His Sons that was uncovered (Fig. 2) served as the foundation for Dente's subsequent print. Dente's print contributed to establishing a genre of reproductive engravings in the Renaissance depicting antiquity. The Laocoon is the only plate on which the engraver inscribed his name, 'Mrcus Ravenas'. Adolfo Venturi, an Italian art historian has argued Dente's print was based on a lost Raphael drawing. The link suggesting Raphael's influence is clear. Dente's effort to reintegrate the sculpture with the ruins of Ancient Rome is a commentary on the restoration of Rome that was likely dictated by Raphael himself. Dente's engraving of the Laocoon was completed before the restorations occurred on the excavated sculpture in 1530. It is the discrepancy in Dente's depiction of a complete sculpture, and the fact restorations occurred on the sculpture after Dente's death, that links Raphael, whose long-standing involvement with the Laocoon is known, to co-operating with regard to ideas for this specific plate. The engraving attempts to combine the narrative and visual aspects of the Laocoon. Dente was also a member of Raphael's social circle. Raphael's involvement with the conceptual production of the plate is further corroborated by the fact that Il Baviera, Raphael's publisher, retained Marco Dente's plate for the Laocoon - evidence that Dente's print, or the design for it, belonged to Raphael. The