Little Masters in the context of Albrecht Altdorfer

Georg Pencz (c. 1500 – 11 October 1550) was a German engraver, painter and printmaker.

Pencz was probably born in Westheim near Bad Windsheim/Franconia. He travelled to Nuremberg in 1523 and joined Albrecht Dürer’s atelier. Like Dürer, he visited Italy and was profoundly influenced by Venetian art; it is believed he worked with Marcantonio Raimondi. In 1525, he was imprisoned with the brothers Barthel Beham and Hans Sebald Beham, the so-called "godless painters", for spreading the radical views of Thomas Müntzer by asserting disbelief in baptism, Christ, and transubstantiation. The three were pardoned shortly afterwards and became part of the group known as the "Little Masters" because of their tiny, intricate, and influential prints.

Sebald Beham (1500–1550) was a German painter and printmaker, mainly known for his very small engravings. Born in Nuremberg, he spent the later part of his career in Frankfurt. He was one of the most important of the "Little Masters", the group of German artists making prints in the generation after Dürer.

His name is often given as Hans Sebald Beham although there is no documentary evidence that he ever used that additional forename.

"Godless painters" is a term used by art historians to refer to Sebald Beham, his brother Barthel, and George Pencz, as exemplified in the title of a 2011 catalog of the Beham brothers' works, The Godless Painters of Nuremberg: Convention and Subversion in the Printmaking of the Beham Brothers. The epithet was coined in derision of the three painters during an inquest conducted by the Lutheran dominated city council of Nuremberg in 1525, which concerned the artists' protestant heterodoxy. The term is a double entendre alluding both to the content of the "godless painters'" works and to the doctrinal views for which they were condemned. The typically small-scale prints often depicted biblical or moral themes with a touch of eroticism. The "godless painters" are also considered to be leading representatives of the group of little masters.

The inquest consisted of numerous interrogations concerning matters of baptism, the Eucharist, and the role of secular authorities. Imprisonment and torture were threatened, but ultimately the three were condemned to short-term exile from the city.