A Mask on an Escutcheon Supported by Two Genii
1544
Medium
Engraving; second state of two (Pauli)
Dimensions
Sheet: 1 7/8 x 2 3/4 in. (4.8 x 7 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
Accession Number
17.3.445
Tags
Art Historical Context
Sebald Beham, a leading figure among the so-called “Little Masters” of sixteenth-century Nuremberg, created this delicate engraving in 1544. Working in the wake of Albrecht Dürer, Beham specialized in tiny, finely detailed prints that appealed to collectors who valued both technical virtuosity and inventive ornament. The sheet, measuring scarcely two by three inches, depicts a grotesque mask centered on an escutcheon and flanked by two lively putti—motifs drawn from classical antiquity yet reimagined for Renaissance tastes. As an engraving, the work exploits the medium’s capacity for crisp li...
About the Artist
Sebald Beham · 1500–1550
Sebald Beham (1500–1550), a pioneering German printmaker and painter born in Nuremberg, emerged as one of the most prolific artists of the Northern Renaissance. The elder brother of fellow artist Barthel Beham, he grew up in a milieu steeped in artistic tradition, though details of his early training remain sparsely documented. Recorded as a journeyman painter (Malergeselle) by 1521 and a master w...