# Pacientia (Patience)

**Sebald Beham** (German, 1500–1550)  
1540  
engraving

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1943.3.1072. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.4290.html).

## 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._

Sebald Beham made this in 1540, aged 40. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

### 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](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/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._

## Facts

- Type: Print
- The artist was 40
- Century: 16th century
- Subjects: animal, Cherub, Monster, Writing
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1339.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1339/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/pacientia-patience-nga-4290).