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Artist in the Global Art Registry

Georg Pencz

1500–1550 · German

Born: 1500 · Nuremberg
Died: 1550 · Leipzig

118 works in the Collect24 Registry

Every work carries a permanent Collect24 Art ID, the way a book has an ISBN.

Georg Pencz was a German engraver, painter, and printmaker.

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Georg Pencz (c. 1500 – 11 October 1550) was a German engraver, painter and printmaker. Pencz was probably born in Westheim near Bad Windsheim/Franconia. He travelled to Nuremberg in 1523 and joined Albrecht Dürer’s atelier. Like Dürer, he visited Italy and was profoundly influenced by Venetian art; it is believed he worked with Marcantonio Raimondi. In 1525, he was imprisoned with the brothers Barthel Beham and Hans Sebald Beham, the so-called "godless painters", for spreading the radical views of Thomas Müntzer by asserting disbelief in baptism, Christ, and transubstantiation. The three were pardoned shortly afterwards and became part of the group known as the "Little Masters" because of their tiny, intricate, and influential prints. In Nuremberg, influenced by works he had seen in Italy, Pencz painted a number of trompe-l'œil ceilings in the houses of patrician families; one, for which a drawing survives, showed workmen raising building materials on a hoist, against an open sky, to create the illusion that the room was still under construction. Around 1539, Pencz briefly returned to Italy, visiting Rome for the first time, returning to Nuremberg in 1540, where he became the city painter and earned his greatest success as a portraitist. As an engraver, he ranks among the best of the German “Little Masters”. Notable prints include Six Triumphs of Petrarch and Life of Christ (26 plates). The best of his paintings are portraits, such as Portrait of a Young Man, Portrait of Marshal Schirmer, and Portrait of Erhard Schwetzer and his wife. In 1550, he was named court painter by Albert, Duke of Prussia, but died in Leipzig before arriving at the court.

Biography source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

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118

Registered works

118

In museum collections

In gallery collections

In private collections

Featured works

Selected registered works by Georg Pencz

Selected from 118 works by Georg Pencz in the Collect24 Registry.

Georg Pencz

Allegory of Justice, 1533

Pen and brown ink over black chalk

19.2 × 14.9 cm

J. Paul Getty Museum

C24-206740

Georg Pencz

Study for a Stained Glass Window with the Coat of Arms of the Barons von Paar (recto); Study for a Sceptre with the Initials MB (verso), about 1540

Pen and brown ink with gray wash (recto); black chalk (verso)

24.8 × 24.8 cm

J. Paul Getty Museum

C24-203897

Georg Pencz

Triumph of Bacchus, c. 1539

engraving

4.8 × 28.4 cm

Cleveland Museum of Art

C24-199738

Georg Pencz

Portrait of Pier Candido (after a medal by Pisanello), ca. 1540–41

Ink and watercolor on paper

21.4 × 15.4 cm

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

C24-477640

Georg Pencz

Tobias Leaving the Table, from "The Story of Tobias", 1543

Engraving; first state of two (Landau)

6.4 × 9.8 cm

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

C24-435436

Georg Pencz

Triumph of Chastity: unicorns draw a carriage bearing a female figure seated next to a sphinx and holding a standard, Vestal virgins walk behind the carriage, round temple of Vesta at right, from "The Triumphs of Petrarch", ca. 1539

Engraving

16.9 × 24.6 cm

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

C24-401892

Georg Pencz

Tomyris, shown nude from behind, placing the head of Cyrus into a sack held by a soldier, the decapitated body of Cyrus on the ground at her feet, from "Four Mythological Scenes", ca. 1539

Engraving

11.9 × 7.5 cm

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

C24-397229

Georg Pencz

Joseph strides away from Potiphar's wife, who clutches his cloak with both hands as she straddles the corner of a bed, from "The Story of Joseph", 1546

Engraving

11.5 × 7.9 cm

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

C24-397224