Leonhard Beck

Saint George by Leonhard Beck

Leonhard Beck (c. 1480 – 1542) was a painter and designer of woodcuts in Augsburg, Germany. He was the son of Georg Beck. His father was active as a miniaturist in Augsburg c. 1490-1512/15. Leonhard worked with his father on two Psalters for the Augsburg monastery in 1495. He was an assistant to Hans Holbein the Elder. He assisted in 1500–1501 on a Holbein altarpiece which is now in the Städel in Frankfurt am Main.

His most notable work came when he joined the stable of artists used by Emperor Maximilian I for the emperor's series of self-propagandising projects in woodcut. He was the main designer for the heavily illustrated poem Theuerdank (1517) and producing 77 of the 118 woodcuts. He made all of the many adjustments Maximilian required for the second edition in 1519. In these adjustments, his style often contrasted painfully with those of the better artists whose work he was altering. He designed 126 blocks for Der Weisskunig and 7 for the Triumphal Procession. He painted and drew a number of portraits, mostly for book illustrations, and designed woodcuts.

Beck is also known for a compilation of 123 woodcuts made by him entitled the Genealogy of the House of Habsburg (or in French Images de Saints et Saintes issus de la famille de l'empereur Maximilien I). The work was commissioned by Maximilian I. The intention of the commission was to show saintly members of Maximilian's family. Some of the images show saints connected to the Abbey of Maubeuge that received a copy of the set.

External links

• Bartrum, Giulia (1995). German Renaissance prints 1490-1550. British Museum Press. ISBN 978-0714126043.
• Parshall, Peter; Landau, David (1996). The Renaissance print : 1470-1550. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300068832.