Hans Wilhelm
Beheim (Behaim, Böheim, Böhm)

Beheim (Behaim, Böheim, Böhm) (Johann W.) baptized November 2, 1570, Nuremberg – died November 17, buried November 20, 1619, Nuremberg

Grave No. 1301 in St. John's Cemetery, epitaph dated 1606, still extant. Son of Heinrich II, carpenter. Married September 26, 1597, to Anna Wednitzer (born in Auerbach – died 1625), one daughter. Master craftsman in 1597. According to Neudörfer, he drew many plans for buildings, portals, and wainscoting. According to Doppelmayr, he was a lover of geometry, architecture, and mathematics. His earliest work is the 1595-dated guild chest of the Nuremberg journeyman carpenters, with elaborate architectural decoration and inlays of various precious woods as well as alabaster, mother-of-pearl, glass, and pewter (in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum). The only evidence of his architectural activity is a 1611-dated and HWB-signed building plan for the manor house of the patrician Praun family in Almoshof near Nuremberg (in the Nuremberg City Archives). The multi-story building with four corner towers, constructed according to the plan, was destroyed in 1632. Before 1616, he also crafted two now-lost tables for the Prauns from ebony, walnut, and jacaranda wood, inlaid with precious stones. A request to hold a raffle "for the purpose of selling handcrafted carpentry work" was rejected by letters dated January 4 and 9, 1613. Before August 14, 1613, he provided several designs for wooden chandeliers for the great hall of the town hall. The only chandelier produced was hung in the great hall of the town hall on July 10, 1615, after some modifications, and gilded in 1620. Beheim received 400 florins for this. Around 1613/16, he produced a model of the town, including its fortifications, on behalf of the council (now in the Fembohaus City Museum). In 1619, he began work on the coffered ceiling for the Small Town Hall, which was hung in 1620 and decorated with sculptural ornamentation by the sculptor Emanuel Schweigger. In 1622, his widow received a final payment of 150 florins for the ceiling. According to Sturm, Beheim published a German translation in 1617 of Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola's Regola delli cinque ordini d'architecti, based on the Venetian edition of 1595, but this translation could not be verified. He lived on the Schwabenberg until his death. Panzer recorded his portrait. His daughter Katharina married Christoph Kurtz, a bailiff in Gostenhof, and later, on May 21, 1640, the painter Veit Reichert.

Lit.: NDB; AKL; Thieme-Becker; Doppelmayr, 1730; Will, GL I, p. 90; E. Mummenhoff, in: MVGN 8, 1889, pp. 250f.; Idem, Rathaus, pp. 119, 144 and 335; KDM Nuremberg, 1977; Zahn, DI-N No. 2840; City Lexicon 2000.

Exhibitions: 1966/3; 1994/13 No. 161.

(quoted from the Nuremberg Artists' Lexicon, edited by Manfred H. Grieb)