Hans Sebald Beham (1500–1550) was a German painter and printmaker best known for his detailed engravings and woodcuts. Born in Nuremberg, Beham worked in the generation following Albrecht Dürer and was strongly influenced by his innovations in printmaking. Beham became a leading member of the Little Masters, a group of German Renaissance printmakers known for creating intricately detailed engravings on a remarkably small scale. His prolific output included religious and mythological subjects, scenes of peasant life, ornament designs and book illustrations. In 1525, Beham, his brother Barthel Beham and fellow artist Georg Pencz were expelled from Nuremberg after being accused of heretical and anti-authoritarian beliefs, earning them the nickname the “godless painters.” Beham was soon permitted to return but eventually settled in Frankfurt, where he spent much of his later career. His sophisticated use of line, cross-hatching and miniature scale established him as one of the most accomplished German printmakers of the 16th century.