The fountain of youth. Woodcut by H. Beham, ca. 1536.

  • Beham, Sebald, 1500-1550.
Date:
[1536?]
Reference:
572323i
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About this work

Publication/Creation

[Nuremberg] : [Albert Glockendon], [1536?]

Physical description

4 prints : woodcut ; sheet and image (sheet 1) approximately 38 x 27 cm ; sheet and image (sheet 2) approximately 38.3 x 28.2 cm ; sheet and image (sheet 3) approximately 38.3 x 27.5 cm ; sheet and image (sheet 4) approximately 36.7 x 27.2 cm

Contributors

Lettering

HSB Beham's initials in monogram on the second sheet

Edition

State before publisher's line.

Contents

Block 1: (foreground) the old and the sick are brought to the fountain of youth; (background) the rejuvenated dance around a bonfire of crutches
Block 2: men and women bathe in the pools of a four-tiered fountain
Block 3: left half of a bathhouse with a balcony above on which nude men and women disport themselves; left, a fool
Block 4: right half of a bathhouse with a balcony above on which men and women drink; left, a hurdygurdy player

References note

A. Bartsch, Le peintre graveur, Leipzig 1854-1870, vol. VIII, H.S. Beham no. 165 ("La fontaine de jouvence, dans laquelle se baignent différentes personnes de toute âge et de tout sexe. Grande composition de beaucoup de figures. En quatre feuilles qui se joignent en largeur")
G. Pauli, Hans Sebald Beham: kritisches Verzeichnis seiner Kupferstiche, Radierungen und Holzschnitte (Studien zur deutschen Kunstgeschichte, 33), Strasbourg 1901, no. 1120
F.W.H. Hollstein, German engravings, etchings and woodcuts ca. 1400-1700, Amsterdam 1954- , vol. III, p. 254

Reference

Wellcome Collection 572323i

Type/Technique

Subjects

Holdings

  • four sheets

Where to find it

  • Sheet [1] of 4: the old and the sick are brought to the fountain of youth; (background) the rejuvenated dance around a bonfire of crutches

    LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores
    572323i.1

  • Sheet [2] of 4: Men and women bathing in the fountain of youth

    LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores
    572323i.2

  • Sheet [3] of 4: Men and women bathing in the fountain of youth which is surmounted by a roof terrace where people are gathered

    LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores
    572323i.3

  • Sheet [4] of 4: Men and women bathing in the fountain of youth which is surmounted by a roof terrace where people are seated at a table

    LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores
    572323i.4

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