Marco Dente

He was an integral member of Marcantonio Raimondi's school of art, joining in 1516; Dente was likely an apprentice alongside Agostino di Musi, another Italian engraver.

[5] The school's commercial function was facilitated by the markets within La Bottega del Cartolaio; this is largely where prints by Marcantonio and Marco Dente were able to be exchanged or acquired.

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'[6] - mirroring the general trend of Roman and the Greek classical antiquity becoming more influential throughout the Renaissance.

Dente's print contributed to establishing a genre of reproductive engravings in the Renaissance depicting antiquity.

Adolfo Venturi, an Italian art historian has argued Dente's print was based on a lost Raphael drawing.

The piece was not like other works executed by Raimondi's School, which were usually copies of other artists' preliminary drawings for paintings or frescoes.

[6] The engraving attempts to illustrate a glimpse of the history of the subject, but also convey Raphael's commentary on the restorations of antiquity.

[6] In Dente's print of the Laocoon and his Sons, he uses the 'R S' monogram to record a different version of the fate of the Trojan priest.

[6] The evidence of Rome is seen through architectural structures and fragments; the depiction of an obelisk, as well as the style of the temple on the hill is equally iconically Roman.

[4] It is common to see evidence of Dente's precision through his replication of arduously minute details of the master copy.

Michael Bryan, in his Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, portrays Dente as a professional forger, with deceptive intents of his imitation.