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Hans Sebald Beham

The Prodigal Son with the Swine

Maker

Hans Sebald Beham (German, 1500-1550)

Title

The Prodigal Son with the Swine
The Prodigal Son

Year

1540

Medium

  • engraving

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • engraving

Materials

engraving

Supports

  • Light weight laid paper

Dimensions

Plate: 5.9 x 9.8 cm (2 5/16 x 3 7/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Lettered within image LL: HSB'; and UR: 'Cupiebat implere ventrem suum de siliquis // luce XV' and '3'.

Identification

Standard Reference Number

Hollstein 35.VI

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of the Fazzano Brothers

Object Number

84.198.624C

Type

  • Prints

Publications

  • Books

The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650

Renaissance engravings are objects of exquisite beauty and incomparable intricacy that are composed entirely of lines. Artists began using this intaglio process in Europe as early as 1430. This captivating catalogue focuses on the height of the medium, from 1480 to 1650, when engravers made dramatic and rapid visual changes to engraving technique as they responded to the demands of reproducing artworks in other media. The Brilliant Line follows these visual transformations and offers new insight into the special inventiveness and technical virtuosity of Renaissance and Baroque (Early Modern) engravers. The three essays discuss how engraving’s restrictive materials and the physical process of engraving informed its visual language; the context for the spread of particular engraving styles throughout Europe; and the interests, knowledge, and skills that Renaissance viewers applied when viewing and comparing engravings by style or school.

Exhibition History

The Brilliant Line
Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650
Sep 18, 2009 – Jan 03, 2010

Label copy

Georg Pencz and Hans Sebald Beham worked in Reformation Nuremberg during and after Albrecht Dürer’s life. Called the “Little Masters” for the predominately small format of their prints, these engravers were direct technical successors of Dürer. However, Italian engravings would have been readily available for study by the 1540s and thus their works can be placed in the context of Marcantonio Raimondi’s influence as well. The copious dot-work found on the figures and the passages of parallel lines that define the form of legs and arms may in fact owe more to Italian models than to Dürer.

Beham represented four narrative moments explicitly mentioned in the biblical text of the Prodigal Son: the Prodigal bids farewell to his father, squanders his inheritance, stands destitute among the swine, and returns to his father where he acknowledges his sins and is forgiven. The Prodigal Son was a frequent subject in Reformation art because it served to instruct about God’s grace and the importance of faith over good works.

Related Objects

No Image Available

Hans Sebald Beham

The Prodigal Son

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Image use

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Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Hans Sebald Beham (German, 1500-1550)
The Prodigal Son with the Swine; The Prodigal Son, 1540
Engraving
Plate: 5.9 x 9.8 cm (2 5/16 x 3 7/8 inches)
Gift of the Fazzano Brothers 84.198.624C

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