BECK VON LEOPOLDSDORF, Hieronymus - b. 1525 , d. 1596 Ebreichsdorf

Austrian nobleman and scholar, son of the Lower Austrian Chancellor Markus Beck. He was brought together with the royal children and studied at the University of Padua. He was the Lower Austrian Kammerrat (1555) and Hofkammerrat (1563). Beck inherited the rule of Niederwaltersdorf (1554) Ebreichsdorf (1572),

Hieronymus Beck spoke several languages and made educational trips to Egypt. He brought with old Turkish chronicles, which are important sources of Ottoman history. He collected archaeological finds and was the owner of a humanistic library which contained also the Beck Book of Portraits (also Lambergsches Portrait Book), a 320-page codex with copies of 235 portraits.

Portrait of Emperor Maximilian II

Hieronymus Beck von Leopoldsdorf was the owner of a humanist library. This library included the Portrait-Book of Hieronymus Beck von Leopoldsdorf (also called Lambergsches portrait book), a 320-page Codex with copies of 235 portraits. One of these portraits represents Emperor Maximilian II, done after an Italian painter.