BECK Leonhard

(Ausburg 1480 ca. -1542)

Son of the miniature painter Georg, Leonhard Beck was initially active with his father realizing valuable miniatures. Subsequently he attended the study of Hans Holbein the Elder as an apprentice and he contributed to the realization of the altarpiece of the Dominicans, preserved today in Frankfurt.

Although his aspiration was that of a painter, the wood-engraving became his main activity in the second decade of the 16th century.

His graphic work included drawing portraits and over 100 woodcuts realized for the famous Weisskunig series already mentioned in the woodcut production of Burgkmair. The influence of the latter is also evident in the 123 wood-plates illustrating the work ‘Genealogy of the House of the Habsburg’ realized by Beck in 1510 and all executed on his own drawings. On the basis of the style, many woodcuts of Beck have been attributed to Hans Burgkmair before his artistic identity was correctly identified only at the end of the nineteenth century.