Triumf der edelen sighaften Weiber

BEHAM, Sebald (Nuremberg 1500 - Frankfurt1 550), reverse copy after Barthel Beham (Pauli 127).

Triumf der edelen sighaften Weiber.

Engraving, 1549

20x135 mm.

Signed with monogram and dated on a tablet at lower centre left.

Bibliography:

Bartsch VIII.171.143

Hollstein 244.I

Pauli 1901-11 244.I

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Additional information

Lettered along upper edge: 'TRIUMF DER/ EDELEN SIGHAFTEN/ WEIBER'' (Triumph of the Noble Victorious Women).

This is a version of the Triumph of Bacchus, which both Sebald and his brother Barthel had made earlier, without the inscription. The victorious couple in the central chariot has been identified as Neptune (note the trident he carries) and one of his lovers. Both Durer and Lucas van Leyden had focused on the Power of Women theme a few decades earlier; here Beham reworks the theme but with a bit less concern with the mythological figures associated with the theme than his predecessors displayed. Beham replicates the classic triumphant march format often found in Renaissance sculpture and engravings, but his women are generally both triumphant and subjugated, and the spirit has more to do with Bacchanalian partying and less with specific archaelogical or mythological references.