Horizontal Panel with Two Genii Riding on Two Chimeras
1544
Medium
Engraving; fourth state of four (Pauli)
Dimensions
Sheet: 1 3/8 x 14 in. (3.5 x 35.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Felix M. Warburg and his family, 1941
Accession Number
41.1.100
Art Historical Context
Sebald Beham’s *Horizontal Panel with Two Genii Riding on Two Chimeras* (1544) is a finely detailed engraving that exemplifies the inventive ornamental prints of the German Renaissance. Measuring just over an inch in height yet stretching fourteen inches wide, the elongated format evokes a frieze or decorative border, suggesting it may have been designed for use in bookbinding, furniture, or architectural ornament. Beham, one of the so-called “Little Masters” of Nuremberg, specialized in such compact yet intricate compositions, often exploring mythological and fantastical themes with remarkabl...
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...