Saint Emesbertus, from Saints Connected with the House of Habsburg
1522/1551
Medium
Woodcut in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/sheet, trimmed within block: 23.5 × 21.2 cm (9 5/16 × 8 3/8 in.)
Classification
wood engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
30270
Art Historical Context
Created around 1522–1551 by German artist Leonhard Beck, *Saint Emesbertus* belongs to the series *Saints Connected with the House of Habsburg*. This woodcut highlights the close ties between religious figures and the powerful European dynasty, reflecting how ruling families in the Renaissance era used art to emphasize their piety and divine legitimacy. Beck’s print employs the woodcut technique, carving bold lines into wood blocks to produce clear, reproducible images on paper. Such works allowed devotional imagery to reach wider audiences beyond church walls, making saints like Emesbertus a...
About the Artist
Leonhard Beck · 1480–1542
Leonhard Beck (c. 1480–1542) was a prominent painter, draftsman, and woodcut designer active in Augsburg, Germany, during the early Renaissance. Born into an artistic family, he was the son of the miniaturist Georg Beck, with whom he collaborated on two psalters for an Augsburg monastery around 1495. Beck began his training as an apprentice in the workshop of the esteemed Augsburg painter Hans Hol...