Entellus and Dares

An engraving by Marco da Ravenna depicting Entellus and Dares (the two figures in combat) after a drawing that Bartsch, Ruland and Passavant attributed to Raphael. This print is lettered with the title and signed by the printmaker with his monogram. Trimmed within the platemark.

This engraving depicts the combat between the Sicilian Entellus and the Trojan Dares and the story derives from Book V of Virgil’s Aeneid. Similarities have been noted with the two gladiators in Giulio Romano’s circular ceiling fresco 'The Parting of the Hooves of Taurus' in the Sala dei Venti of the Palazzo Te in Mantua. It has also been suggested (see Bibliographic References) that the figures derive from a second-century Roman marble relief of two boxers, currently in the Museo Gregoriano Profano in the Vatican (inv. no. 9502, 9503). The background ruins of the Colosseum are related to a sketch in the Codex Excurialensis (f.24v).