January and February from "The Peasants' Feast" or "The Twelve Months"
1546
Medium
Engraving; second state of two (Pauli)
Dimensions
sheet: 1 15/16 x 2 15/16 in. (5 x 7.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1966
Accession Number
66.529.52
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the crisp world of winter with *January and February* from Sebald Beham's enchanting series *The Peasants' Feast* or *The Twelve Months*1546). This tiny engraving—measuring just under 2 by 3 inches—captures men and women in lively rustic revelry, swords at hand amid the chill of early year festivities. Beham, a of the German Renaissance "Little Masters," excelled in such intimate scales, packing intricate details into prints that rival larger paintings. As a second-state engraving from the Pauli catalog, it showcases Beham's virtuoso technique: fine, precise lines incised into coppe...
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...