Leonhard Beck’s woodcut, “St. Amalberga III”, 1510, after Hans Burgkmair the Elder

Leonhard Beck (1475/80–1542)

“St. Amalberga III” (aka “St Amelia III”),1510, plate 9 from the series of woodcuts after the designs of Hans Burgkmair the Elder (1473–1531), “Images De Saints Et Saintes Issus De La Famille De L'Empereur Maximilien I. - En une Suite de cent dix neuf planches gravées en bois par differens graveurs d'après les dessins de Hans Burgmaier.” (see https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/book/images-de-saints-et-saintes-issus-de-la-famille-de-lempereur-maximilien-i), plate cut by the workshop of Nicolas Seemann ((fl.1510–1517), Hans Frank, Corneille Liefrink (1480–pre1545), Aléxis Lindt (fl. c1500–1525), Josse de Neghker (1485–c1544), Wolfgang Resch (c1480–c1537) and Hans Taberith (fl. c1510–1517) and Guilleaume Taberith, published in “Saints Connected with the House of Hapsburg: A General Account of the Ancestry of Emperor Maximilian I”.

This impression is from the later edition printed by Anna Alberti (fl.1794-1802) and published by Franz Xaver Stöckl (1763–1815) in Vienna in 1799 using the original woodblocks (see Virtuelles Kupferstichkabinett: http://www.virtuelles-kupferstichkabinett.de/de/detail-view). The Annex Galleries advises that this edition “was printed in 1799 for the family of the Emperor Maximilian I by Chez La Veuve Alberti, the widow of the printer Ignaz Alberti and published by F.X. Stockl, Marchand D'Estamps in Vienna” (https://www.annexgalleries.com/inventory/detail/17678).

Woodcut on laid paper with wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 37 x 26.3 cm; (image borderline) 23.7 x 21cm.

Numbered above the image borderline: (right) “9”.

New Hollstein (Leonhard Beck) 10 (Guido Messling [comp.] 2007, “The New Hollstein: Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450–1700: Leonhard Beck”, Part I, Ouderkerk aan den Ijssel, Sound and Vision, p. 6, cat. no. 10).

For those unfamiliar with St. Amalbergna III, her biography is confusingly smudged with two earlier saints who share the same name (St Amalbergna) and the same birthday (July 10). What is known about St. Amalbergna III was that she was a virgin from the 12th century. What is certain regarding the portrayed saint in this woodcut, this is not the first St Amalberga who was married twice, comforts those with arm pains, bruises, and fever, and is usually shown standing on a giant sturgeon—a fish which the saint jumped upon to cross a river (see https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-amalberga-297).

Regarding the shield on the right featuring rampant lions, I may be very wrong, but to my eyes this particular lion seems to match those featured in the Coat of Arms of Flanders (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Flanders). For me, this makes sense, as the first St Amalberga was the sweetheart of Charlemagne, King of the Franks—until he broke her arm when making a rather forceful marriage proposal—and because she forgave him and made him a better man, she is revered in Belgium for comforting those with arm pains (see https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1300).

Condition: a richly inked and superbly printed impression with generously wide margins in near pristine condition with no tears, holes, abrasions, creases, significant stains, foxing or signs of handling.

I am selling this large and superb woodcut, printed from the original 1510 plate in the Franz Xaver Stöckl edition of 1799, for the total cost of AU$263 (currently US$190.80/EUR162.72/GBP139.73 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries.

If you are interested in purchasing this startlingly fine woodcut showing St. Amalberga III as a nun praying to a holy vision of the crucifix on a sacred heart in what I assume to be Flanders with the Rampant Lion Coat of Arms of that region on the right, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.