Leonhard Beck’s woodcut, “Saint Tharsitia”, 1510, after Hans Burgkmair the Elder

Leonhard Beck (1475/80–1542)

“Saint Tharsitia”, 1510, plate 104 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 woodblock (see Virtuelles Kupferstichkabinett: http://diglib.hab.de?grafik=xd-2f-100-00103). 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 fine laid paper (with watermark) with full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 42 x 28.5 cm; (image borderline) 23.7 x 21cm.

Numbered above the image borderline: (right) “104”.

Regarding the shield shown on the right featuring a rampant lion, I may be very wrong, but to my eyes this particular lion seems to match the one featured in the coat-of-arms of The Ancient Kingdom of Neustria (see https://www.sovereign-order.uk/kingdom-of-neustria). For me, this makes sense, as the St Tharsitia was the granddaughter of the Frankish king, Clotaire I.

Condition: a richly inked and superbly printed impression with generously wide margins in a near pristine condition. Note that the fine white line showing on the left is possibly a crack in the printing plate as it may be seen in other Franz Xaver Stöckl impressions of this print.

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$278 (currently US$181.08/EUR168.37/GBP144.26 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 Tharsitia (aka St Tarsicia) (died c.600) addressing an emaciated man—possibly a plague victim based on his shroud-like covering—who has raised himself from a stretcher bed, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.