Hans Sebald Beham Floral Engraving from the collection of Sir Joshua Reynolds

Floral Roundel Engraving by Hans Sebald Beham.

Hans Sebald Beham (1500–1550) was a prolific German Renaissance engraver and printmaker, celebrated for his finely detailed miniature prints, genre scenes, and ornament designs, and a leading figure among the "Little Masters" of post-Dürer Nuremberg.

This is design number four of a set of six. This engraving has an unusually exciting provenance: it is documented as having come from the collection of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), with an inventory number on the back. It came with some other engravings by Cornelius Bos stamped with his inventory mark.

Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) was the leading Georgian portraitist and first President of the Royal Academy, an erudite collector who amassed a vast library and collection of Old Master prints and engravings that he mined as studio reference, many later dispersed in a major posthumous estate sale (the biggest being in 1795) and identifiable today by the distinctive collector’s stamp applied to the versos of his prints and drawings.

Interestingly enough, they were collated on a sheet with 4 other engravings and came with a note mentioning 'Sir Richard Westmacott the Sculptor', so perhaps we can assume they were bought from the studio sale by him, aged approximately 20.

Sir Richard Westmacott (1775–1856) was a leading British Neoclassical sculptor, famed for monumental public works such as the Achilles in Hyde Park and the British Museum pediment, and a prominent Royal Academician and professor of sculpture.

Size approx 4.5 cms diameter

Frame approx 17.5 x 17.5

Good condition especially for its age.

If you are interested in buying all three please contact me for a special price.