Tamires with King Cyrus’ head

Reference: 3209
Author Georg PENCZ
Year: 1539 ca.
Measures: 74 x 118 mm
Not Available

Reference: 3209
Author Georg PENCZ
Year: 1539 ca.
Measures: 74 x 118 mm
Not Available

Description

Tomyris with the head of King Cyrus; whole-length nude and crowned female figure seen from behind at left; holding a sword in her left hand and placing the head into a sack held by a soldier at right; the beheaded corpse on the ground; from a series of four engravings "Greek heroines".

Engraving, 1539 circa, signed with monogram on lower left plate.

Example in the second state with small changes. Excellent work, printed on contemporary laid paper without watermark, trimmed to platemark, in excellent condition.

Tamires was the Shiite Queen; she defeated, beheading him, Ciro the Great, founder of the Persian Empire.

Shortly before 1520, several young artists in the immediate circle of Albercht Dürer began making remarkably small engravings that challenged the viewer with a world in miniature; a world of new secular subject and of unconventional interpretations of traditional themes. Because of the scale of their engravings these artists have long been saddled with the unflattering collective name the Little Masters. The core of the group consist in three Nuremberg artists, Hans Sebald & Bartel Beham and Georg Pencz, Jacob Bink form Cologne and Heinrich Aldegrever from Soest.

Literature

Bartsch VIII.340.70; Landau 73; Hollstein 120 II/II.

Georg PENCZ (Norimberga 1550 - 1550)

Georg Pencz (c. 1500 – 11 October 1550) was a German engraver, painter and printmaker. Pencz was probably born in Westheim near Bad Windsheim/Franconia. He travelled to Nuremberg in 1523 and joined Albrecht Dürer’s atelier. Like Dürer, he visited Italy and was profoundly influenced by Venetian art; it is believed he worked with Marcantonio Raimondi. In 1525, he was imprisoned with the brothers Barthel Beham and Hans Sebald Beham, the so-called "godless painters", for spreading the radical views of Thomas Müntzer by asserting disbelief in baptism, Christ, and transubstantiation. The three were pardoned shortly afterwards and became part of the group known as the "Little Masters" because of their tiny, intricate, and influential prints. In Nuremberg, influenced by works he had seen in Italy, Pencz painted a number of trompe-l'œil ceilings in the houses of patrician families; one, for which a drawing survives, showed workmen raising building materials on a hoist, against an open sky, to create the illusion that the room was still under construction. Around 1539, Pencz briefly returned to Italy, visiting Rome for the first time, returning to Nuremberg in 1540, where he became the city painter and earned his greatest success as a portraitist. As an engraver, he ranks among the best of the German “Little Masters”. Notable prints include Six Triumphs of Petrarch and Life of Christ (26 plates). The best of his paintings are portraits, such as Portrait of a Young Man, Portrait of Marshal Schirmer, and Portrait of Erhard Schwetzer and his wife. In 1550, he was named court painter by Albert, Duke of Prussia, but died in Leipzig before arriving at the court.

Literature

Bartsch VIII.340.70; Landau 73; Hollstein 120 II/II.

Georg PENCZ (Norimberga 1550 - 1550)

Georg Pencz (c. 1500 – 11 October 1550) was a German engraver, painter and printmaker. Pencz was probably born in Westheim near Bad Windsheim/Franconia. He travelled to Nuremberg in 1523 and joined Albrecht Dürer’s atelier. Like Dürer, he visited Italy and was profoundly influenced by Venetian art; it is believed he worked with Marcantonio Raimondi. In 1525, he was imprisoned with the brothers Barthel Beham and Hans Sebald Beham, the so-called "godless painters", for spreading the radical views of Thomas Müntzer by asserting disbelief in baptism, Christ, and transubstantiation. The three were pardoned shortly afterwards and became part of the group known as the "Little Masters" because of their tiny, intricate, and influential prints. In Nuremberg, influenced by works he had seen in Italy, Pencz painted a number of trompe-l'œil ceilings in the houses of patrician families; one, for which a drawing survives, showed workmen raising building materials on a hoist, against an open sky, to create the illusion that the room was still under construction. Around 1539, Pencz briefly returned to Italy, visiting Rome for the first time, returning to Nuremberg in 1540, where he became the city painter and earned his greatest success as a portraitist. As an engraver, he ranks among the best of the German “Little Masters”. Notable prints include Six Triumphs of Petrarch and Life of Christ (26 plates). The best of his paintings are portraits, such as Portrait of a Young Man, Portrait of Marshal Schirmer, and Portrait of Erhard Schwetzer and his wife. In 1550, he was named court painter by Albert, Duke of Prussia, but died in Leipzig before arriving at the court.