Barthel Beham

Barthel Beham (* 1502 in Nuremberg, † 1540 in Bologna, Italy ) was a German painter and engraver. He was the younger brother Hans Sebald Beham and at first seems to have learned from him. The artistic influence of Albrecht Dürer was initially overlooked, however, Barthel Beham turned more and more of the Italian High Renaissance. He was a very sought-after engraver and portraitist.

Life

Already the age of eighteen entered Barthel Beham in 1520 produced in his native city with a strikingly well-made engravings. 1524, after a stay of Thomas Müntzer in Nuremberg, the brothers Beham and Georg Pencz, a journeyman Dürer, religiously and politically in the sense of the radical wing of the Reformation operated and joined the Social Revolutionary Movement of the Baptist. The Council of the City of Nuremberg put the "three godless painters " and other " fanatics " caught on 12 January 1525, she underwent a sharp interrogation in which Barthel said to have behaved very brusque and arrogant, and utterly destroyed them, in agreement with the clergy on January 26, 1525 for heresy from their native city.

Barthel Beham returned eight months later he returned to Nuremberg. However, he returned to Nuremberg soon the back and moved to Munich. Here he worked in the workshop of Wolfgang Muelich and entered 1527 as court painter in the service of Duke Wilhelm IV, although a resolute opponent of the Reformation, but humanist patron of the arts and artists. Soon Beham's special abilities have been recognized as a portraitist, which earned him numerous orders of the court and of the Munich patricians. 1530 he painted the Emperor Charles V and his brother, King Ferdinand of Hungary and Bohemia, on the occasion of their solemn feed in Munich. Especially as an engraver, he was distinguished by very carefully executed and technically perfect work. 1540 sent his court painter to the Duke of perfecting the painting technique to Italy, where Barthel Beham died at the age of 38 after a brief illness.

Works (selection)

• Vanitas, 1540 ( Hamburger Kunsthalle )
• Two works in the museum at All Saints
• Hans Urmiller with his son ( Städel, Frankfurt am Main )

Exhibition

• 2011: The godless painters of Nuremberg - Sebald Beham and Barthel. Albrecht Durer House, Nuremberg