Hans Urmiller and his son

Barthel Beham's Portrait of Hans Urmiller with his Son documents the Munich court painter's ability to combine official portraiture with intimate family representation. Beham, expelled from Nuremberg for religious radicalism, found a welcoming patron in the Wittelsbach court of Munich, where he produced portraits that combined Dürer's analytical precision with a warmer, more officially formal style appropriate to court service. This double portrait asserts dynastic continuity through the father-son composition, a format that communicated the subject's investment in family legacy and social reproduction.

The double portrait captures the relationship between father and son with Beham's characteristic precision. The small-scale, highly finished technique reflects his training as an engraver.