Barthel Beham’s engraving, “Bookplate of Hieronymus Baumgartner”, c1530

Barthel Beham (1502–1540)

“Bookplate of Hieronymus Baumgartner” (aka “Exlibris von Bartel Beham für Hieronymus Baumgartner”; “Les Armoiries de Jerôme Baumgärtner”), c1530— Hieronymus Baumgartner the Elder (aka Hieronymus Paumgartner I) (1498–1566) was an influential and close friend of Albrecht Dürer and famous for holding “one of the finest libraries of the period, and he has been revered up until the twentieth century for his translations of essential Greek and Latin texts into German” (see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1910-0212-310).

The Curator of the British Museum offers the following insights regarding this print: “Hieronymus Baumgartner or Paumgartner (1498-1565) was a Nuremberg patrician and humanist and, like Willibald Pirckheimer, commissioned a bookplate for use in his library […]. His coat of arms is surrounded by a shield with three stars, which according to Warnecke is the arms of the Derrer family, and a clock, an hourglass and a skull (F. Warnecke, 'Die deutschen Bücherzeichen - Ex-Libris - von ihrem Ursprunge bis zur Gegenwart', Berlin, 1890, no. 137). The latter three emblems relate to his motto, which refers to the passage of time, and which is inscribed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, the three languages of the scholar, in the border of the print [not featured in this impression]” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1870-1008-2396).

Engraving on a buff coloured handmade/wove paper (possibly China), trimmed close to the platemark with narrow margins.

Size: (sheet) 9.1 x 7.5 cm; (plate) 8.6 x 7 cm; (image borderline) 6.9 x 5.3 cm.

State ii (of ii) This impression is from a later edition.

TIB 15.57-(II) (106) (Robert A Koch 1978, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Early German Masters”, vol. 15, New York, Abaris Books, p. 30, cat. no. 57); Hollstein 89.II; Pauli 89.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Bookplate for Hieronymus Baumgärtner; a coat of arms with a parrot sitting on a lily, the same motif repeated on the helmet with plume feathers above. In the four corners clockwise starting from the top left: an hour class, a dial, a coat of arms with three stars and a skull. 1530s Engraving” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1870-1008-2396).

See also the descriptions of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum; National Gallery of Art (Washington); Bassenge Auctions; and, the Louvre:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.31013

https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.34661.html; https://bassenge.com/lots/111/63060; 

https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl020572898.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression trimmed with a narrow margin around the platemark and in a near pristine condition.

I am selling this small and exceptionally fine engraving in near faultless condition rich with vanitas symbolism (viz. hour glass, sundial and skull) for AU$523 (currently US$371.15/EUR329.73/GBP280.72 at the time of posting this print) 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 extraordinary engraving designed as an ex-libris engraving by a key artist in the group of German masters known as the "Little Masters" (Kleinmeister)—because of the diminutive size of their prints—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold