Beck, Leonhard, German, c1480-1542

Saint Wunnibaldus [St. Wunibald], No 119

      Hollstein II, 170. A fine impression, in fine condition on laid paper. With dampstain at lower bottom margin and a a 1/8" foxing stain near scaffold. Also with slight scattered foxing at paper edges, not affecting image. The original "Images of the Saints", a series of 119 woodcuts, was completed by Hans Burgkmair (1473-1531), Hans Schaufelein (ca.1480-1540), and Leonhard Beck at the court of the Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1531). The series was one of many commissioned by Maximilian to immortalize his reign as emperor. Most of the series were printed in very few impressions during the emperor's reign and remain very rare. Bartsch printed a new edition of the series after securing the original blocks in the 1790's. Beck designed woodcuts at the court of Maximilian I from 1512 until the early 1520s.Saint Wunibald, was born in Wessex, England, and went on a pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land with his brother and father. When their father died at Lucca, the brothers proceeded to Rome. Wunibald remained in the Eternal City while his brother went on to the Holy Land. Wunibald studied in Rome for seven years, went back to England, but then returned to Rome determined to enter the religious life. At the invitation of St. Boniface, he gathered together a group of English missionaries and went to Germany in 739. Wunibald was ordained, labored in Thuringia and Bavaria, and then joined his brother in his missionary work in Holland. With his brother, he founded the monastery in Germany, where he served as abbot with his sister as abbess. He struggled against the local pagans and strove to make the monastery one of the leading ecclesiastical centers in Germany. St. Wunibald died in 761. 9 X 9 inches