Hans Sebald Beham
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Sebald Beham (1500–1550) was a German painter and printmaker, mainly known for his very small
engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...
s. Born in Nuremberg, he spent the later part of his career in Frankfurt. He was one of the most important of the "
Little Masters The Little Masters ("Kleinmeister" in German), were a group of German printmakers who worked in the first half of the 16th century, primarily in engraving. They specialized in very small finely detailed prints, some no larger than a postage stamp. ...
", the group of German artists making prints in the generation after Dürer. His name is often given as Hans Sebald Beham, although there is no documentary evidence that he ever used this additional forename. He produced approximately 252 engravings, 18 etchings and 1500 woodcuts, including woodcut book illustrations. He worked extensively on tiny, highly detailed, engravings, many as small as postage stamps, placing him in the German printmaking school known as the "
Little Masters The Little Masters ("Kleinmeister" in German), were a group of German printmakers who worked in the first half of the 16th century, primarily in engraving. They specialized in very small finely detailed prints, some no larger than a postage stamp. ...
" from the size of their prints. These works he printed and published himself, while his much larger woodcuts were mostly commissioned work. The engravings found a ready market among German bourgeois collectors. He also made prints for use as
playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...
s and
wallpaper Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so t ...
. His engravings cover a range of subjects, but he is especially known for scenes of peasant life, and scenes from classical myth or history, both often with an erotic element. His early work was done under the shadow of Dürer, who was still working in Nuremberg, and one early woodcut "Head of Christ", to which the "AD" monogram was added in the second
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
(though probably not by Beham), was long misattributed to Dürer by
Adam Bartsch Johann Adam Bernhard Ritter von Bartsch (17 August 1757 – 21 August 1821) was an Austrian scholar and artist. His catalogue of old master prints is the foundation of print history, and he was himself a printmaker practicing engraving and et ...
and others. He also borrowed from his brother Barthel's rather more original works. In his later work he boldly re-interpreted many of Dürer's most famous prints in works such as his ''Melancholia'' of 1539, exploiting the difference in scale between his work and the original. His dark backgrounds may have been inspired by Italian Niello prints.


Life

Beham was born in
Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
. Nothing is known of his parents. His brother Bartel Beham, two years his junior, was also an artist. His training is undocumented. In 1521 he is recorded as a ''Malergeselle'' ("journeyman painter"), and by 1525 he was master of his own workshop in Nuremberg. In January 1525, along with his brother and
Georg Pencz Georg Pencz (c. 1500 – 11 October 1550) was a German engraver, painter and printmaker. Pencz was probably born in Westheim near Bad Windsheim/Franconia. He travelled to Nuremberg in 1523 and joined Albrecht Dürer’s atelier. Like Düre ...
, he was banished from Nuremberg, accused of
heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
,
blasphemy Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...
and not recognising the authority of the City council. The three thus became known as "godless painters". The accusations against Beham were connected with his Lutheran beliefs, the city authorities then being Catholic, although they adopted Lutheranism as the city's official religion only two months later. The three artists were soon allowed to return to Nuremberg, but in 1528 Beham hurriedly left the city once more, following the threat of legal action over his treatise on the proportions of the horse which was regarded as having been plagiarised from an unpublished
manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
by
Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
, who had recently died. He then spent time working in various German cities; his woodcuts were published at
Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...
between 1527 and 1530, and in the latter year he was in Munich, where he recorded the triumphal entry of Emperor Charles V in a woodcut entitled ''The Military Display, 10 June 1530''. He lived mostly in
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
from 1532, becoming a citizen there in 1540, and remaining until his death ten years later. Until about 1532 his prints were monogrammed 'HSP', reflecting the Nuremberg pronunciation of his surname: ''Peham''. After this date, by which time he had established himself in Frankfurt, his monogram became "HSB". This monogram has often led to his name being given as "Hans Sebald Beham", but there is no documentary evidence for this additional forename, the "H" in the monogram probably representing the second syllable of his surname. He is known to have married twice. A pair of models for medals, designed by Matthes Gebel and dating from 1540, shows Beham and his wife Anna. In 1549, by then a widower, Beham married Elizabeth Wolf, the daughter of a shoemaker from
Büdingen Büdingen is a town in the Wetteraukreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is mainly known for its well-preserved, heavily fortified medieval town wall and half-timbered houses. Geography Location Büdingen is in the south of the Wetterau below the Vogels ...
. He is not to be confused with his contemporary Hans Beham (or Behem or Böhm), also of Nuremberg, who cast the "Sigismund" bell (''
Zygmunt Zygmunt, Zigmunt, Zigmund and spelling variations thereof are masculine given names and occasionally surnames. People so named include: Given name Medieval period * Sigismund I the Old (1467–1548), Zygmunt I Stary in Polish, King of Poland and Gr ...
'') at the
Wawel castle The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established on ...
in Poland for the
Sigismund I the Old Sigismund I the Old ( pl, Zygmunt I Stary, lt, Žygimantas II Senasis; 1 January 1467 – 1 April 1548) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until his death in 1548. Sigismund I was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the ...
.


Other work

Beham is best known as a prolific printmaker, but also painted, designed stained glass, and wrote two successful illustrated books, manuals for artists.


Paintings

He is known to have designed stained glass in Nuremberg. His only known panel painting, however, is a tabletop painted with scenes from the life of King David, now in the Louvre. This was done following his move to Frankfurt, for Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg. He also painted miniatures for a prayer-book for Albrecht, now in the collection of the Hofbibliothek, Ashaffenburg. Some coats of arms, painted on vellum for newly ennobled patrons, survive in the city archives in Frankfurt.


Artists' manuals

The book on the proportions of the horse, for which he was briefly exiled in 1528 following accusations of plagiarism, was an artists' manual, which he later followed with one on the human figure. These publications were simplified borrowings of Dürer's works on the subjects, but rather easier to use (and cheaper), and thus had a long-lasting success.


Gallery

File:Prodigal Son 3.jpg, one of a set on the '' Prodigal Son'', 1538 File:A Mask on an Escutcheon Supported by Two Genii MET DP828921.jpg, ''A Mask on an Escutcheon Supported by Two Genii'', 1544 File:Sebald Beham Joseph und Potiphars Weib 1544.jpg, ''Joseph and
Potiphar Potiphar ( ; Egyptian origin: ''pꜣ-dj-pꜣ-rꜥ'' "he whom Ra gave") is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. Potiphar is possibly the same name as Potiphera () from Late Egyptian ''pꜣ-dj-pꜣ-rꜥ'' "he whom Ra has given." Potiphar ...
's Wife'', 1544, 81 x 56 mm File:Sebald Beham - Januar und Februar (Washington).jpg, Peasant couples representing the months, from a set, 1545 File:Hercules slaying the Hydra.jpg, ''
Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...
and
Iolaus In Greek mythology, Iolaus (; Ancient Greek: Ἰόλαος ''Iólaos'') was a Theban divine hero. He was famed for being Heracles' nephew and for helping with some of his Labors, and also for being one of the Argonauts. Family Iolaus was ...
slaying the Hydra'', 1545 File:Die Nacht - Night.jpg, ''Night'', 1548 File:Houghton Typ 520.57.201 - Beham, b III verso.jpg, Illustration from ''Das Kunst vnd Lere Büchlin'', 1567


See also

*
Barthel Beham Barthel Beham (or Bartel)With manother variants/ref> (1502–1540) was a German Engraving, engraver, miniaturist, and Painting, painter. Biography The younger brother of Hans Sebald Beham, he was born into a family of artists in Nuremberg. Learn ...


References


External links


Hans Sebald Beham at ArtcyclopediaAlison G. Stewart: Sebald Beham: Entrepreneur, Printmaker, Painter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beham, Sebald 1500 births 1550 deaths German engravers 16th-century German painters German male painters German Renaissance painters Artists from Nuremberg Artist authors Sibling artists