The Year's End
Classification
figures
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Leo Wallerstein
Accession Number
1950-131-75
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
**The Year's End** by Hans Sebald Beham a masterful German artist (1500–1550), captures the spirit of mid-16th-century Northern Europe in this 1546 work from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's collection. Beham, one of the "Little Masters" of the Renaissance, was renowned for his intricate engravings and drawings featuring everyday figures—peasants, revelers, and biblical scenes—rendered with exquisite detail on a small scale. Created during the Protestant Reformation in Nuremberg, his hometown and a hub of printmaking innovation, this piece reflects the era's blend of secular genre subject...