Pencz大概生于韦斯泰姆附近巴德-温斯海姆 / 弗兰肯。他前往纽伦堡在1523年，加入杜勒的工作室。就像丢勒，他访问了意大利，并在深刻地影响了威尼斯艺术 ; 据信，他曾与尼欧高主教。在1525年，他被囚禁兄弟巴氏Beham和汉斯圣塞巴德Beham，即所谓的“不信神的画家”，撒播的激进观点托马斯·闵采尔在断言难以置信的洗礼，基督和变质。三是不久之后赦免，并成为被称为“组的一部分小主人 ”，因为他们的小的，复杂的和有影响力的版画。

在纽伦堡，由他在意大利看到作品的影响，Pencz涂一些错视画在贵族家庭的房屋天花板; 之一，它的绘图生存，表现为工人提高对起重机的建材，对一个开放的天空，创造了错觉，以为房间还在施工。

1539左右，Pencz简要地回到了意大利，参观罗马的第一次，回到纽伦堡在1540年，他成为了城市的画家，并获得他最大的成功作为肖像画家。作为一个雕刻师，他名列前茅德国“小主人”的行列。值得注意的印刷品包括彼特拉克的六胜利和基督生平（26片）。最好他的画都是肖像画，如人像一个年轻男子，肖像元帅泪液分泌的和肖像艾哈德Schwetzer和他的妻子。

在1550年，他被任命为宫廷画家由阿尔伯特，普鲁士公爵，但在去世莱比锡在普鲁士的伟业法院前到达。 

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 byVenetian 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 andtransubstantiation. 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.

In Nuremberg, influenced by works he had seen in Italy, Pencz painted a number of trompe l'oeilceilings in the houses of patrician families; one, for which a drawing survives, showed workmen raising building materials on a hoist, against an open sky, to create the illusion that the room was still under construction. 

Around 1539, Pencz briefly returned to Italy, visiting Rome for the first time, returning to Nuremberg in 1540, where he became the city painter and earned his greatest success as aportraitist. As an engraver, he ranks among the best of the German “Little Masters”. Notable prints include Six Triumphs of Petrarch and Life of Christ (26 plates). The best of his paintings are portraits, such as Portrait of a Young Man , Portrait of Marshal Schirmer and Portrait of Erhard Schwetzer and his wife.

In 1550, he was named court painter by Albert, Duke of Prussia, but died in Leipzig before arriving at the court of Albert of Prussia.^[3]