medicine, theology, and literature. She translated various
religious texts from French, including The Mirroure of
Golde for the Sinfull Soule (1522), and book four of
Thomas à Kempis’s Imitatio Christi (1504); she also com-
missioned other translations from Latin, publishing them
at her own expense. In so doing, she promoted the work
of the printers William CAXTON, Wynkyn de Worde, and
Richard Pynson.
Beaumont, Francis (c. 1584–1616) English dramatist
Born into an old established Leicestershire family, Francis
was the younger brother of the poet Sir John Beaumont
(1583–1627), who is remembered chiefly as an early ex-
ponent of the heroic couplet in English in such poems as
the mock-heroic Metamorphosis of Tobacco (1602) and the
narrative Bosworth-Field (1629). Francis followed John to
Oxford (1597) and the Inner Temple (1600). In London
he met and became the disciple of Ben JONSON; it may
have been through Jonson that Beaumont met John
FLETCHER, who became his close friend and with whom he
collaborated in the writing of plays from about 1606.
Beaumont’s best-known independent poem is the Ovidian
Salmacis and Hermaphroditus (1602).
The first collected edition of the works of Beaumont
and Fletcher appeared in 1647 and contained 34 plays and
a masque; the 1679 edition raises the number to 52 plays
and the masque. Scholars have disentangled the style of
each dramatist so that it is possible to say with some con-
fidence which works are truly collaborative efforts, which
solely or mainly by Beaumont, and which by Fletcher
alone or with a third party. Among the plays generally
thought to be by Beaumont is The Knight of the Burning
Pestle, a burlesque of knight-errantry written about 1609
and published in 1613; The Maid’s Tragedy, written in
1611 and first printed in 1619, and Philaster, written in
1611 and printed in 1620, are two of the most successful
products of the collaboration. Beaumont alone is thought
to have written (1613) The Masque of the Inner Temple.
Beccadelli, Antonio (1394–1471) Italian poet
Born in Palermo (Latin: Panormus), the town from which
he took his nom-de-plume, “Il Panormita,” Beccadelli
studied law and classical poetry in several northern Italian
cities (1420–34). In 1425 he published a Latin poem that
brought him immediate notoriety: Hermaphroditus, explic-
itly extolling homosexual love with a scandalous noncha-
lance. Copies of the poem, together with portraits of
Beccadelli, were publicly burned. However, others hailed
it as a masterpiece, Cosimo de’ Medici accepted the dedi-
cation of the poem, and Beccadelli’s undoubted scholar-
ship and skill gained him the post of court poet at Pavia,
which he held until he returned to Naples. There he
founded (1442) the Academia Pontaniana (see NEAPOLI-
TAN ACADEMY). He spent the rest of his life as a respected
servant of ALFONSO I(“the Magnanimous”), for whom he
composed De dictis et de factis Alphonsi regis (1455), later
to become the chief source of the legend of that monarch’s
magnanimity.Beccafumi, Domenico (c. 1486–1551) Italian painter
Born near Siena, the son of a peasant named di Pace,
Domenico took the name of his patron, Lorenzo Becca-
fumi. His studies took place in Siena and Rome. Returning
to Siena in 1512, he worked on the decoration of the fa-
cade of the Palazzo Borghese and produced a mosaic for
the church of San Bernardino (1517) and 35 biblical
scenes for the marble pavement of the cathedral. In 1541
he went to Genoa where he painted a fresco, now lost, for
Andrea DORIA, but he then spent the rest of his life in
Siena, where he was the most important mannerist
painter. His Birth of the Virgin (1543; Pinacoteca, Siena) is
a characteristic example of his mannerist style, with its
elongated and foreshortened forms and its contrasts of
light and dark. He also produced some sculpture, such as
the bronze angels for the cathedral (c. 1548). His decora-
tion of the ceiling of the Palazzo Bindi Sergardi anticipated
the erotic tendencies of 16th-century MANNERISM.Beck, Leonhard (c. 1480–1542) German painter and
woodcut designer
The son of an Augsburg manuscript illuminator, Beck was
apprenticed to HOLBEIN THE ELDERin 1495, became his as-
sistant, and was registered as an independent master in- His early style was close to that of his master, al-
though he was subsequently influenced by Hans BURGK-
MAIR and Jörg Breu. Beck was involved with Hans
Schäufelein, Breu, and Burgkmair on the large cycles of
woodcuts known as the Theuerdank and Weisskunig, com-
missioned by Emperor Maximilian I. Unaided, he de-
signed the 123 woodcuts of saints in another of
Maximilian’s commissions, the Sipp-, Mag-, und Schwäger-
schaften. A series of chalk drawings of considerable force,
portraying Augsburg artists and dated 1502–15, has also
been attributed to Beck. His later portraits are often con-
fused with those of his son-in-law and pupil, Christoph
AMBERGER.
Behmen, Jakob See BOEHME, JAKOBBelgic Confession (1561) Articles of faith drawn up in
French by Guy de Brès, aided by Hadrian à SARAVIA, for the
Walloon and Flemish reformed churches. It was based on
the GALLICAN CONFESSIONof 1559. Dutch, German, and
Latin translations were made; between 1566 and 1581 it
was accepted by synods at Antwerp, Wesel, Emden, Dort,
and Middelburg, and again by the major Synod of DORTin- Less polemical than its predecessor, it was the best
statement of Continental Calvinist doctrine; an English
version was adopted by the reformed church of America.
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