A man kneeling and placing a laurel branch upon a pile of burning books

Printmaking in woodcut and engraving came to Northern Italy within a few decades of their invention north of the Alps. Engraving probably came first to Florence in the 1440s, the goldsmith Maso Finiguerra (1426–64) used the technique. Italian engraving caught the very early Renaissance, 1460–1490. Print copying was a widely accepted practice, as well as copying of paintings viewed as images in their own right.

Francesco Salviati was born in 1510 in Florence, Italy. He was a member of the Mannerist school of painting, known for its exaggerated forms and dramatic compositions. Salviati's style was strongly influenced by the work of Michelangelo and Raphael. Salviati began his career as a painter in Florence, where he worked on frescoes in the Palazzo Vecchio and the Palazzo Pitti. He later moved to Rome, where he worked for Pope Julius III and painted frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. Salviati was known for his skilful use of colour and his ability to create complex compositions. He often depicted scenes from classical mythology and the Bible, and his works are characterised by their dramatic intensity and emotional power. Salviati died in Rome in 1563 at the age of 53. His work had a significant influence on the development of Mannerist painting in Italy and he is considered one of the most important artists of the period.