O die Stund ist aus

BEHAM, Sebald (Nuremberg 1500 - Frankfurt 1550), reverse copy after Barthel Beham (Pauli 39).

O die Stund ist aus (Alas, the hour has come).

Engraving, 1548

57x81 mm.

Signed "HSB" and dated in the plate. Also lettered in the bottom left corner: "O. DIE STUND IST AUS".

Bibliography:

Bartsch VIII.173.146

Hollstein 147.I

Pauli 1901-11 147.I

Bartrum 1995 107

More details

Additional information

Several graphite inscriptions on the verso.

See Giulia Bartrum, 'German Renaissance Prints', exh. cat., BM, London 1995, no.107.

Text from Bartrum 1995

Literature: Bartrum, 146; Pauli, 147; Hollstein, p. 87.

Copied in reverse from Barthel's engraving of the same subject (Pauli 39); Sebald has added his monogram and the inscription [see inscription]. The connection between sex and death is a recurring theme in engravings by the Little Masters. It is seen in its most blatant form in Sebald's engraving of 1529, 'Death and the Lascivious Couple' (Pauli 153), of which there is an impression in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (see Goddard, p. 115). Sebald's sophisticated use of the technique of engraving gives his prints a harder, more metallic appearance than those of his brother. His tendency to emphasise the outlines of his forms and use more uniform hatching has the effect of heightening textural contrast and creating sharper images, but it also lessens the softer atmosphere of Barthel's prints.