Psyche's father consulting the oracle, from 'The Fable of Psyche'

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.

The identity of the Master of the Die is uncertain. He was given this name because he signed his prints with a small die (dice). Some theories to the identity of the artist include Benedetto Verino, Marcantonio Raimondi's son Daddi or Dado, Giovanni Francesco Zabello, or Tommaso Vincidor. The artist known as the Master of the Die studied under Marcantonio Raimondi. He worked in the style of Raphael.