Anton August Beck

Anton August Beck (born August 27, 1713 in Braunschweig ; † March 17, 1787 there ) was a German engraver .

life and work

Anton August was the son of the Augsburg copper engraver Johann Georg Beck and his second wife Anna Elisabeth Füllekrug from Braunschweig. He gained insight into the craft of copperplate engraving from an early age . The father died in 1722 when Anton August was almost nine years old. After his mother married Johann Georg Schmidt , also a copper engraver from Augsburg, in 1725 , the boy was trained by him. His artistry earned him the offer to come to Hanover to settle there. Beck refused, however, and was appointed court copper engraver on June 21, 1756 by Duke Karl I of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel . After his stepfather's death in 1767, he took over his workshop, which was located in the Weichbild Sack , level 7, and continued to run it successfully. Beck's father and son's engraving workshop existed from 1706 to 1787 without interruption.

Beck's versatile work included portraits, for example. B. of Duke Charles I and his wife Philippine Charlotte ; but also to numerous illustrations for calendars and almanacs , depictions of nature and (partly large-format) depictions of buildings (churches, town halls, castles) and interior views. Over 30 years he created the title pages of the Braunschweigische advertisements , in which he published five articles on historical topics in and around Braunschweig between 1749 and 1777.

Beck dealt intensively with the history of the city of Braunschweig and its topography . In 1758 he created the first exact city ​​map of Braunschweig. His engravings of epitaphs and gravestones provide a comprehensive insight into the family history of Braunschweig's bourgeois families . In 1780 he began an extensive city history, but this project remained unfinished. The majority of his culturally and historically significant works, which were created between 1740 and 1780, were finally summarized in what is known as "Beck's adhesive tape ". Today the work represents a unique source for the building history of the city, as Braunschweig was subject to major architectural changes during the 18th century; old building fabric, e.g. Some of them from the Middle Ages were removed to make way for new architecture. Beck documented both the old before its destruction and the new. Characteristic of his engravings is the sobriety of the depiction, which wanted to document and not depict people and accessories .

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

• 

  New Town Hall

• 

  City Hall

• 

  Fountain on the Altenstadt market

• 

  Vechelde Castle

• 

  Bevern Palace in Braunschweig

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. 71-72 .
• 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 .

Web links

Commons : Anton August Beck  - Collection of images, videos and audio files