Misfortune

Hans Sebald Beham

1541

Beham belongs to a group of German printmakers whom scholars call the Little Masters, for the small scale of their prints. The appeal of these miniatures grew with the rise of collector’s cabinets (kunstkammers). The small scale required a technical virtuosity much admired by collectors. Beham was a prolific printmaker who produced nearly 2,000 prints. His prints are of widely varying subjects, including biblical themes, Roman history, mythology, and personifications of allegorical concepts, as seen here. Beham also produced an allegory of Fortune, to be paired with Misfortune.