Job Conversing with His Friends
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/sheet, trimmed to platemark: 6.9 × 10.4 cm (2 3/4 × 4 1/8 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
27975
Art Historical Context
In the Prints and Drawings department of the Institute of Chicago sits a delicate engraving titled *Job Conversing with Friends*, created by Hans Sebald Be in 1547. Beham, a leading figure among the Nuremberg "Little Masters"—a group of German Renaissance artists famed for their miniature-scale masterpieces—depicts a pivotal biblical scene from the Book of. Here, the afflicted Job engages in debate with his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, who question his suffering as divine punishment. This intimate composition, trimmed to just 6.9 × 10.4 cm, captures the emotional tension of fait...
About the Artist
Hans Sebald Beham · 1500–1550
Sebald Beham (1500-1550), often called Hans Sebald Beham, was a German painter and printmaker born in Nuremberg. He stands as the most important figure among the Kleinmeister (Little Masters), a group of German artists who created remarkably detailed prints on a diminutive scale in the generation following Albrecht Dürer. Beham's significance lies in his technical virtuosity and unprecedented pro...