Peasants' Brawl from "The Peasants' Feast" or "The Twelve Months"

Sebald Beham German

Not on view


Beham’s print series consolidated many of the stereotypical traits attributed to peasants during the sixteenth century. Set at church festivals and weddings, the tiny, collectible images focused on moments of drunken behavior, unrestrained dancing, violent outbursts, and sexual dalliances. Tapping into an older tradition of poems, songs, and comedies, such pictures reinforced the then pervasive idea of peasants as a class of people ruled by their untamed appetites.

Peasants' Brawl from "The Peasants' Feast" or "The Twelve Months", Sebald Beham (German, Nuremberg 1500–1550 Frankfurt), Engraving; first state of two (Pauli)

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