Johann Georg Beck

Johann Georg Beck (born April 24, 1676 in Augsburg ; † August 7, 1722 Braunschweig ) was a German engraver .

life and work

Beck came from Augsburg, but moved to Ulm around 1700 in order to protect himself from the imponderables of the War of the Spanish Succession , which also threatened his hometown. In Ulm in 1703 he married Anna Elisabeth Merck, widowed Hohleise and fled with her to Leipzig in the same year . They stayed there until September 1706 when Swedish troops threatened the city. They fled again, this time to Braunschweig. In October 1706, Beck and his wife moved into a house in Braunschweig's Weichbild Sack , level 7, where they opened a copperplate engraving workshop and offered his services to Duke Anton Ulrich von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel . Beck was probably appointed court copper engraver around 1711. His first wife died in January 1712 and in the same year he married Anna Elisabeth Füllekrug from Brunswick. In 1713, son Anton August was born, who was to continue the father's company until his death in 1787.

Beck's business flourished due to ducal orders and work for the Braunschweig calendar, which had been published since 1710 . In addition, he made engravings from Braunschweig, Wolfenbüttel , Salzdahlum Castle , Hildesheim etc., which were also available as single sheets. His clientele included both the wealthy bourgeoisie and clergy . His portrait prints were of particular quality, including those of Duke August Wilhelm and his wife Elisabeth Sophie Marie , Duchess Amalie and Princess Charlotte Christine Sophie.

After his death in 1722, his widow married a second time in 1725; again an engraver from Augsburg, Johann Georg Schmidt . He continued the Beck workshop, trained his son Anton August and handed over the business to him in 1767.

A large part of the works by father and son Beck is now in the City Museum and in the City Archives of Braunschweig .

Selection of works

• 

  Lazy Mette

• 

  Ground plan of the park and palace in Salzdahlum, around 1710

literature

• Luitgard Camerer , Manfred Garzmann , Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (eds.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon . Joh. Heinr. Meyer Verlag, Braunschweig 1992, ISBN 3-926701-14-5 .
• Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Gerhard Schildt (ed.): The Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte. A region looking back over the millennia . 2nd Edition. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2001, ISBN 3-930292-28-9 .
• Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Dieter Lent et al. (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 8th to 18th century . Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-937664-46-7 , p. 72-73 .
• Gerd Spies: Braunschweig - The image of the city in the 18th century. Works by the Beck engraver family from Braunschweig. Orphanage printing and publishing house, Braunschweig 1976, ISBN 3-878-84005-5 .
• Ferdinand Spehr :  Beck, Johann Georg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 215.

Web links

Commons : Johann Georg Beck  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Works by and about Johann Georg Beck  in the German Digital Library