Pacientia (Patience)1540
Patience, personified as a winged woman, tenderly holds a lamb, an emblem of meek endurance, while a dragon-like monster lurks beside her and putti fly in with a laurel branch beneath her name, PACIENTIA. More about this work
About this work
Patience, personified as a winged woman, tenderly holds a lamb, an emblem of meek endurance, while a dragon-like monster lurks beside her and putti fly in with a laurel branch beneath her name, PACIENTIA. Sebald Beham engraved this small allegory in 1540, using the fine, precise lines that earned him and his Nuremberg contemporaries the name Little Masters. Such prints were collected in albums and also served craftsmen as models.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
This is a drawing of a winged figure with a sheep, accompanied by a mythical creature and cherubs. The central figure is holding the sheep tenderly. On the left, two cherubs are flying with a laurel branch, under the word "PACIENTIA." On the right is a mythical creature with dragon-like features. Below the scene, a plaque with an inscription is placed against the pedestal. The artwork is detailed with lines, cross-hatching, and shading, accentuating textures and forms.
Description from the National Gallery of Art.
How it was made
- Engraving
- Lines cut directly into a metal plate with a steel burin, which makes them swell and taper. It took years to master, and for centuries it was how paintings travelled as pictures.
Sebald Beham
German, 1500–1550
Sebald Beham trained in Nuremberg in the orbit of Dürer and was one of the “Little Masters”, engravers known for tiny, finely worked plates of biblical, mythological and peasant subjects. In 1525 he, his brother Barthel and Georg Pencz were tried and banished from the city as the “godless painters” for their radical religious views. He later settled in Frankfurt, where he worked prolifically on engravings, woodcuts and book illustrations.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The National Gallery of Art has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1943.3.1072
- Credit
- Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
- Type
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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