Earliest of his authenticated engravings, without monogram and without date, crude in handling, possibly suggested by the work of some earlier master, and in all probability executed before his first journey to Venice (that is to say, before or in the year 1490) is the _Ravisher_, susceptible of as many and as varied interpretations as there are authorities; from a man using violence, to the struggle for existence. It has even been connected in some way with a belief in witchcraft! The _Holy Family with the Dragonfly_, to which Koehler gives second place in his chronological arrangement of Dürer’s engravings, shows an astonishing advance in technique and in composition. It is undated, but the monogram is in its early form. The galley and the two gondolas, in the distant water to the right, would seem to indicate that it was engraved in or about the year 1494, upon Dürer’s return from Venice, and it is probably his first plate after his return to Nuremberg. There is a sweetness and an attractiveness in the face of the Virgin which points to an acquaintance with Schongauer’s engraving, the _Virgin with a Parrot_. The poise of the head and the flowing hair lend color to this supposition. To how great an extent not only the engravings, but the theories, of Jacopo de’ Barbari may have influenced Dürer in such plates as _St. Jerome in Penitence_, the _Carrying Off of Amymone_, _Hercules_, or the _Four Naked Women_, is difficult to determine. It may have been considerable, though, at times, one cannot help wondering whether the theory of proportion of the human body, of which Jacopo spoke to Dürer, but concerning which he refused (or was unable) to give him further detailed particulars, may not have been more or less of a “bluff,” since there is no record of Jacopo having committed the results of his studies to writing, and in his engravings there is little evidence of any logical theory of proportion. That a potent influence was at work shaping Dürer’s development is clear, and the figure of _St. Jerome_ undoubtedly owes a good deal to Jacopo. The landscape is all Dürer’s own, the first of a long series finely conceived and admirably executed. The long, sweeping lines in the foreground recall the manner of Jacopo de’ Barbari, but otherwise the engraving owes little technically to that artist. [Illustration: ALBRECHT DÜRER. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH THE MONKEY Size of the original engraving, 7½ × 4¾ inches In the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston] [Illustration: ALBRECHT DÜRER. FOUR NAKED WOMEN Size of the original engraving, 7½ × 5¼ inches In the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]