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MASTER B WITH THE DIE The Fable of Cupid and Psyche.
Bound volume with 32 engravings, circa 1532. 255x315 mm; 10 1/4x12 1/2 inches (sheets), wide margins. Published by Antonio Salamanca, Rome.
Provenance: The collection of a French artist, possibly François-Séraphin Delpech, circa 1815, with annotations and drawings in pencil on the blank pages and versos throughout. According to the Royal Trust Collection, London, where there is another copy of this series, the 32 engravings depict episodes taken from Apuleius' Story of Cupid and Psyche, all of which were engraved by the Master of the Die (active 1530-1560) with the exception of three by Agostino Veneziano (circa 1490-after 1536). Formerly thought to have been designed by Raphael, the engravings are now reputed to be based on Raphael-inspired drawings which [Giorgio] Vasari attributed to Michiel Coxie (circa 1499-1592). Massari (in Raphael Invenit. Stampe di Raffaello nelle Collezioni dell'Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Rome, 1985, page 257) suggests a date of c.1532, the year in which Coxie met the Master of the Die in Rome. Bartsch 39-70.
