Dagobert II King of Austrasia

Saint Dagobert, King of Austrasia, patron of Stenay (Meuse) Engraved by DE NEGKER (Jost), after the drawings of BECK (Leonard) Sheet dimensions: 39.5 x 26 cm Subject dimensions: 23.7 x 21.3 cm Large format woodcut with good inking. Wide margins. No foxing. 16th-century woodcut, 18th-century edition. Woodcut from the Images of Saints and Holy Figures from the family of Emperor Maximilian I associated with the House of Habsburg (Die Heiligen aus der "Sipp-, Mag- und Schwägerschaft" des Kaisers Maximilian I.) This is engraving No. 24 from the hagiographic collection. The publisher being Franz Xaver Stöckl, it is a reprint printed in Vienna in 1799 by the printing house of the Widow Alberti with the original wood matrices from the early 16th century (1516-1518). This collection was born from a commission by Emperor Maximilian I, intended to establish and legitimize his authority by anchoring the Habsburgs in a lineage of indisputable moral authority. It presents King of Austrasia Dagobert II (reign 652-679) as a Saint, haloed and crowned, holding three nails in his left hand and a scepter in his right hand. Standing inside a building, a round arch in the background reveals a landscape characterized by the presence of nature, a city on a height, and a stream descending the hill. The attribution of the artist has changed over the years, according to the Kunsthalle of Hamburg, these are engravings by Jost de Negker, made after the drawings of Leonhard Beck (1480-1542), as indeed, Hans Burgkmair the Elder (1473-1531) is from an earlier attribution. Indeed, this assertion was based on stylistic comparisons since the two artists had already collaborated for the creation of 251 woodcuts for the work of the "White King" or Weisskunig of Maximilian I (the work not being published, it fell into oblivion before the wood matrices were rediscovered at the end of the 18th century, allowing its first publication in Vienna in 1775). Leonard Beck (1480-1542) was a German painter, draftsman, and engraver, a student of Hans Holbein the Elder. He created more than 300 drawings for woodcuts, such as those for Emperor Maximilian I from 1512 to 1518.