Spaightwood Galleries

Hans Sebald Beham, one of the "Little Masters" or Kleinmeister (so called because of the diminutive size of the engravings they tended to make), may have studied under Albrecht Durer in Nuremberg, but about 1525, during a period of religious unrest, he, his brother Barthel (1502-1540), and Gerog Pencz were expelled from the city (which had beome Lutheran) for heresy (preferring Andreas Karstadt and Thomas Muntzer to the new Lutheran orthodoxy). After a few attempts to return quietly, Sebald left Nuremberg and worked in Ingolstadt, Munich, and Frankfurt (c. 1531) until his death. Artistically, Sebald and barthel Beham were much influenced by Albrecht Dürer (d. 1528), Albrecht Altdorfer, and Raphael, through prints after his paintings by many artists, but especially by Marcantonio Raimondi. He was a prolific printmaker, making 252 engravings, 18 etchings, and 1500 woodcuts (many of them for books). As Alison Stewart's entry in the Grove Dictionary of Art (NY: Oxford University Press, 1996) points out, "The subjects of Sebald's prints were various: traditional scenes from the Old and New Testaments and from lives of the saints, portraits, allegories, secular and historical subjects and classical themes and motifs. They range from tiny and simple woodcut illustrations depicting scenes from Genesis to expertly crafted and finely engraved scenes from Classical antiquity, which often exploit the erotic potential of their subjects (e.g. Cimon and Pero, 1523-25, Pauli nos. 76-77). His small engravings are highly accomplished and may have been collected even in his lifetime. He also designed prints of extremely large size and fine craftsmanship" (3: 505-06). In addition to making engravings, Beham and his studio produced drawings for glass painters and makers of stained glass window.

Bibliography: Robert A. Koch, ed. The Illustrated Bartsch 15: Early German Masters: Barthel Beham / Hans Sebald Beham (NY: Abaris Books), Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd. Hans Sebald Beham: The collection of prints formed by Gordon Nowell-Usticke (London, 1978); Gustav Pauli, Hans Sebald Beham. Ein kritisches Verzeichnis seiner Kupferstiche, Radierungen und Holzschnitte (Baden-Baden, 1974); Adolf Rosenberg, Sebald und Barthel Beham. Zwei Maler der deutschen Renaissance (Leipzig: E.A. Seemann, 1875); Herbert Zschelletzschky, Die "drei gottlosen Maler von Nürnberg". Sebald Beham, Barthel Beham u. Georg Pencz ; histor. Grundlagen u. ikonolog. Probleme ihrer Graphik zu Reformations- u. Bauernkriegszeit (Leipzig: E. A. Seemann Verlag, 1975).