Hans Holbein the Younger

The German painter and graphic artist Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497-1543) combined consummate technical skill with a keen eye for realistic appearance and was the first portrait painter to achieve international fame.

Hans Holbein the Younger, born in Augsburg, was the son of a painter, Hans Holbein the Elder, and received his first artistic training from his father. Hans the Younger may have had early contacts with the Augsburg painter Hans Burgkmair the Elder. In 1515 Hans the Younger and his older brother, Ambrosius, went to Basel, where they were apprenticed to the Swiss painter Hans Herbster. Hans the Younger worked in Lucerne in 1517 and visited northern Italy in 1518-1519.

On Sept. 25, 1519, Holbein was enrolled in the painters' guild of Basel, and the following year he set up his own workshop, became a citizen of Basel, and married the widow Elsbeth Schmid, who bore him four children. He painted altarpieces, portraits, and murals and made designs for woodcuts, stained glass, and jewelry. Among his patrons was Erasmus of Rotterdam, who had settled in Basel in 1521. In 1524 Holbein visited France.

Holbein gave up his workshop in Basel in 1526 and went to England, armed with a letter of introduction from Erasmus to Sir Thomas More, who received him warmly. Holbein quickly achieved fame and financial success. In 1528 he returned to Basel, where he bought property and received commissions from the city council, Basel publishers, Erasmus, and others. However, with iconoclastic riots instigated by fanatic Protestants, Basel hardly offered the professional security that Holbein desired.

In 1532 Holbein returned to England and settled permanently in London, although he left his family in Basel, retained his Basel citizenship, and visited Basel in 1538. He was patronized especially by country gentlemen from Norfolk, German merchants from the Steel Yard in London, and King Henry VIII and his court. Holbein died in London between Oct. 7 and Nov. 29, 1543.

First Period: Basel (1515-1526)

With few exceptions, Holbein's work falls naturally into the four periods corresponding to his alternate residences in Basel and London. His earliest extant work is a tabletop with trompe l'oeil motifs (1515) painted for the Swiss standard-bearer Hans Baer. Other notable works of the first Basel period are a diptych of Burgomaster Jakob Meyer zum Hasen and his wife, Dorothea Kannengiesser (1516); a portrait of Bonifacius Amerbach (1519); an unsparingly realistic Dead Christ (1521); a Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Saints (1522); several portraits of Erasmus, of which the one in Paris (1523 or shortly after), with its accurate observation of the scholar's concentrated attitude and frail person and its beautifully balanced composition, is particularly outstanding; and woodcuts, among which the series of the Dance of Death (ca. 1521-1525, though not published until 1538) represents one of the high points of the artist's graphic oeuvre.

Probably about 1520 Holbein painted an altarpiece, the Last Supper, now somewhat cut down, which is based on Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting, and four panels with eight scenes of the Passion of Christ (possibly the shutters of the Last Supper altarpiece), which contain further reminiscences of Italian painting, particularly Andrea Mantegna, the Lombard school, and Raphael, but with lighting effects that are characteristically northern. His two portraits of Magdalena Offenburg, as Laïs of Corinth and Venus with Cupid (1526), were evidently influenced by French portrait painting, although they reflect Leonardesque ideals and the Laïsextends her right hand in a manner reminiscent of that of Christ in Leonardo's Last Supper.

Second Period: England (1526-1528)

The preserved works of Holbein's second period consist exclusively of portraits, among them Sir Thomas More; Sir Henry Guildford and its pendant, Lady Mary Guildford; William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury (two versions), all of 1527; and the very sensitive Niklaus Kratzer, shown with his astronomical instruments (1528). The lost portrait of Sir Thomas More and his family, known through Holbein's drawing of the whole composition, seven preliminary sketches for the heads, and several painted copies, is a pioneering work in group portraiture.

Third Period: Basel (1528-1532)

During this period Holbein continued his activity as a portrait painter, decorated the facade of a house, "zum Kaiserstuhl" (of which preparatory drawings exist), completed the decoration of the council chamber in the town hall (1530; fragments are preserved in Basel), and designed woodcuts for the Old Testament (1531, published 1538) and other books. The masterpiece among the portraits of this period is the Artist's Family, representing his wife and two of his children (1528/1529); it is a touching portrait painted with a dispassionate realism that conveys with utmost clarity the gloom and loneliness of the woman. The altarpiece Madonna of Mercy with the Family of Jakob Meyer, which Holbein had begun about 1526, before he left for England, was completed in 1528. It is a symmetrically organized picture with the figures closely contained in a pyramidal group in front of a shell-backed niche of Renaissance inspiration.

Fourth Period: England (1532-1543)

The last period of Holbein's life marks the culmination of his career as a portrait painter, with his subjects now mainly the wealthy German merchants in London and the King and his court. Characteristic examples are George Gisze (1532), a Danzig merchant shown in the surroundings of his business activity; Hermann Wedigh (1532), a merchant of Cologne; The Ambassadors (1533), a full-length double portrait, tightly organized and precise in the rendering of musical and astronomical instruments and an anamorphic skull; Robert Cheseman of Dormanswell (1533); Charles de Solier, Sieur de Morette (1534/1535); Henry VIII (1536; Lugano-Castagnola), the first of several portraits of the monarch shown in full regal splendor, and its pendant, Jane Seymour; Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan (1538), a full-length portrait; Edward VI as a child (1539); Anne of Cleves (1539/1540; Paris); and Sir William Butts (ca. 1543).

During this period Holbein learned the technique of portrait miniatures and produced important works of this kind, such as Anne of Cleves (1539/1540; London) and Mrs. Pemberton (ca. 1540). Other works of this final period include a project for a triumphal arch with Apollo and the Muses on Parnassus for the merchants of the Steel Yard on the occasion of the coronation procession of Anne Boleyn (1533); allegorical wall decorations in the guildhall of the Steel Yard (ca. 1533; lost); designs for goldsmith work and jewelry for Henry VIII (from ca. 1536 on); and the decoration of the privy chamber in Whitehall Palace (1537; destroyed by fire in 1698), for which a cartoon for the left side, showing Henry VII and Henry VIII, is preserved.

His Style

Holbein's art is characterized by superb technical skill, an unerring sense of composition and pattern, a sound grasp of three-dimensional form and space, and a sharp eye for realistic detail. His portraits are painted with a passion for objectivity, the outward appearance of his subjects directly reflecting their inner character or mood without the intrusion of the artist's attitude toward them. His drawings, frequently executed in black and colored chalks (following a practice he may have observed in France), bear testimony to this artistic temperament: they are precise and controlled, and the outline dominates as the expressive agent.

Holbein's development was gradual and appears to have been guided essentially by his successful search for objective precision. In the work of his second English period he concentrated more on clear contours and ornament and was less concerned with three-dimensional form and space, with the result that his last portraits are relatively flat and decorative, characteristics generally associated with 16th-century mannerism.

Further Reading

A concise biography and critical account of Holbein's work are in Paul Ganz, The Paintings of Hans Holbein (1st complete edition, 1950). See also Arthur B. Chamberlain, Hans Holbein the Younger (2 vols., 1913). Specialized studies include K. T. Parker, The Drawings of Hans Holbein in the Collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle (1945), and James M. Clark, The Dance of Death by Hans Holbein (1947).

For more information on Hans Holbein, the Younger, visit Britannica.com.

Holbein, Hans, the Younger (1497/98–1543), German portrait painter. Hans Holbein the Younger, a painter and designer of stained glass, woodcuts, and jewelry, was born in Augsburg to a family of artists. His father Hans the Elder (active c. 1490–1523) was probably his first teacher, and his uncles Sigmund Holbein and Hans Burgkmair the Elder (1473–c. 1531) were important early influences. He left Augsburg at eighteen to join his elder brother Ambrosius (1493/94–1519?) in Basel as journeymen in the workshop of the leading painter there, Hans Herbst, or Herbster (1470–1552), and collaborated on the marginal drawings in Oswald Myconius's famous copy of Erasmus's Praise of Folly. Commissions from Basel humanists and city officials soon ensued: portraits of Erasmus's publisher, Johannes Froben; Erasmus's attorney and heir, Bonifacius Amerbach (1519; Basel); three portraits of Erasmus himself (1523; Longford Castle, Ireland; Louvre, Paris; and Basel); a diptych portrait of the mayor Jakob Meyer and his wife Dorothea Kannegiesser (1516), who also commissioned The Meyer Madonna (1526–1530; Darmstadt); a madonna with standing saints for the then city clerk Johannes Gerster (1522, The Solothurn Madonna); and an altarpiece for a Basel city council member, Hans Oberried.

During 1517–1519 Holbein assisted his father with illusionistic decorations for the facade of the Jakob Hertenstein house (Lucerne) and the Haus zum Tanz in Basel. Admitted to the Basel painters' guild Zum Himmel on 25 September 1519, that same year he married Elsbeth Binzenstock, a tanner's widow. On 20 July 1520 he secured Basel citizenship, and a year later he received a commission to decorate the new council chamber. Further religious works included a Passion altarpiece, a Last Supper scene, and The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb (1521; all in Basel). This last work, a panel for use from Good Friday until Easter morning, is so radical a representation of death that the nineteenth-century Russian author Dostoevsky would later declare, "This picture could rob many a man of his faith," creating its effect with an imaginary painting in his novel The Idiot. Designs for the woodcut Dance of Death series were also made during these years (1522–1525).

Holbein traveled to France (1524), perhaps hoping to find employment with Francis I, and may have seen works by Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea del Sarto at Amboise, as well as three-color chalk drawings by Jean Clouet, a technique that he adapted for his own use in portrait work. His paintings of Venus and Cupid and of Lais of Corinth (1526; Basel) show the strong influence of the Franco-Italian Renaissance.

Erasmus, concerned for the welfare of his favorite painter, recommended Holbein by letter to his friend Sir Thomas More in London, and the artist departed from Basel for England, by way of Antwerp, on 29 August 1526. While there, he painted a group portrait of the More family, for which only the individual chalk studies (Windsor Castle) and the preliminary sketch (Basel) with the artist's notes have survived—the latter was presented to Erasmus. He also finished portraits of Sir Thomas More (1527; Frick Collection, New York); the Archbishop of Canterbury William Warham (1527; Louvre, Paris); the comptroller of Henry VIII's household, Sir Henry Guildford, and his wife, Lady Guildford (both 1527; Windsor and St. Louis); Henry's privy councillor Sir Henry Wyatt (1527/ 28; Louvre, Paris); and a drawing of his son, the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt (undated). Before leaving England, Holbein also painted a portrait of the king's German astronomer Nicolas Kratzer (1528; Louvre, Paris). Unlike his Basel paintings, which are a mixture of tempera and oil on pine or lindenwood, the British portraits were completed on oak panels.

Returning to Basel, Holbein bought two houses, painted on paper a group portrait of his wife and children, The Artist's Wife and Her Two Children, Philip and Catherine (1528, Basel; silhouetted and mounted on panel), and made adjustments to the Meyer Madonna, which by then was to become an epitaph. In 1528 and 1529, during the wave of iconoclasm that accompanied the Reformation in Basel under the influence of Ulrich Zwingli, religious works of art were removed from the churches and many were destroyed. Consequently, Holbein left for England once again. Thomas More now being out of favor at court, Holbein found clients among the young German merchants of the Steelyard, including Georg Gisze of Danzig (1532; Berlin), Hermann Wedigh of Cologne (1533; New York) and Dierick Born (1533; Vienna). His double portrait of the French ambassador Jean de Dinteville and his houseguest Georges de Selve, bishop of Lavour, entitled The Ambassadors (1533; London) also dates from this period. Soon afterward he was made part of Henry VIII's court, portraying Henry himself, Queen Jane Seymour (1536; Vienna), Christina of Denmark (1538; London), Anne of Cleves, and the future King Edward VI, the two-year-old Prince of Wales (1539; Washington). The King's physician Sir John Chambers was Holbein's last client. The artist died, probably of the plague, in 1543, leaving behind a mistress and two young children in England.

Bibliography

Bätschmann, Oskar, and Griener, Pascal. Hans Holbein. Princeton, 1997.

Ganz, Paul. Dessins de Hans Holbein le jeune. Geneva, 1939.

Hervey, Mary F. S. Holbein's 'Ambassadors', the Picture and the Men. An Historical Study. London, 1900.

Michael, Erika. Hans Holbein the Younger: A Guide to Research. New York and London, 1997.

Roberts, Jane. Holbein. Zeichnungen vom Hofe Heinrichs VIII. Exh. cat. Hamburg and Basel, 1988.

Rowlands, John. Holbein: The Paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger. Oxford, 1985.

Strong, Roy. Holbein and Henry VIII. London, 1967.

—JANE CAMPBELL HUTCHISON

A 1543 portrait miniature of Hans Holbein the Younger by Lucas Horenbout

Holbein's 1533 painting The Ambassadors

Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497– before November 29 1543) was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known for his numerous portraits and his woodcut series of the Dance of Death.

Early life and career

Holbein was born in Augsburg, Bavaria and learned painting from his father Hans Holbein the Elder. Later he went with his brother Ambrosius Holbein to Basel where he met many scholars, among them the Dutch humanist Erasmus. Holbein was asked by Erasmus to illustrate his satires. He also illustrated other books, and contributed to Martin Luther's translation of the Bible. Like his father, he designed stained glass windows and painted portraits.

Holbein in England

The Reformation made it difficult for Holbein to support himself as an artist in Basel, Switzerland, and he set out for London in 1526. Erasmus furnished him with a letter of introduction addressed to the English statesman and author Sir Thomas More. Holbein painted many portraits at the court of Henry VIII. While there he designed state robes for the king. He also designed many of the extravagant monuments and decorations for the coronation of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, in the summer of 1533.

Several extant drawings said to be of Anne Boleyn are attributed to Holbein. One portrays a woman with rather plump features dressed in a plain nightgown. Some have said that this shows the queen during pregnancy, sometime between 1533 and 1535, but recent research suggests that the subject is actually one of Anne's ladies-in-waiting, possibly Lady Margaret Lee or one of her sisters. It seems more likely that portrait Holbein drew or painted of Anne Boleyn was destroyed after she was beheaded in 1536 on false charges of treason, adultery, incest and witchcraft.

Holbein painted Henry's third wife, Jane Seymour. He also painted Jane's sister, Elizabeth Seymour, who married the son of Thomas Cromwell. This portrait was incorrectly identified as Henry's fifth wife, Queen Catherine Howard, when it was discovered in the Victorian era. After Seymour's death Holbein painted Christina of Denmark during negotiations for her prospective marriage to Henry VIII. The likeness met with Henry's approval, but Christina declined the offer of matrimony, citing a desire to retain her head.

Portrait of Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger (1527).

Holbein also painted Anne of Cleves for Henry VIII. Henry criticized the portrait as having been too flattering; it seems likely that Henry was more impressed by extravagant praise for Anne than with Holbein's portrait. There is some debate over whether or not a portrait miniature of a young woman in a gold dress and jewels is in fact Holbein's painting of Henry's fifth wife, Catherine Howard.

Later years

In his later years Holbein worked in both Basel and London. On one of his stays in London he painted German merchant Georg Giese, brother of Tiedemann Giese, at the Hanseatic League outpost in London, called the Steelyard (Stalhof).

While Holbein was working on another portrait of Henry, he died in London. He made his will on October 7th, 1543, and a document attached to it, dated November 29th, describes him as recently dead.^[1]

Portrait techniques

Holbein always made highly detailed pencil drawings of his portrait subjects, often supplemented with ink and coloured chalk. The drawings emphasize facial detail and usually did not include the hands; clothing was only indicated schematically. The outlines of these drawings were then transferred onto the support for the final painting using tiny holes in the paper through which powdered charcoal was transmitted; in later years Holbein used a kind of carbon paper. The final paintings thus had the same scale as the original drawings. Although the drawings were made as studies for paintings, they stand on their own as independent, finely wrought works of art.

He painted a few, superb, portrait miniatures, having been taught the art by Lucas Horenbout, a Flemish illuminator who was also a court artist of Henry.^[2] Horenbout painted Holbein in perhaps his best miniature, and the best portrait we have of Holbein, who never made a self-portrait (illustration).

David Hockney has speculated in the Hockney-Falco thesis that Holbein used a concave mirror to project an image of the subject onto the drawing surface. The image was then traced. However this thesis has not met with general acceptance from art historians.

A subtle ability to render character may be noted in Holbein's work, as can be seen in his portraits of Thomas Cromwell, Desiderius Erasmus, and Henry VIII. The end results are convincing as definitive images of the subjects' appearance and personality.

See also

• Early Renaissance painting
• List of British artists
• Anamorphosis
• Western painting

Notes

1. ^ Michael Levey, The German School; National Gallery Catalogues, 1959, National Gallery, London
2. ^ According to Karel van Mander who refers to a "Lucas", assumed to be Horenbout.

External links and references

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Hans Holbein der Jüngere

• A list of museums featuring the artist
• An earlier version of this article was loosely based on an article written by Nicolas Pioch.
• Video Hans Holbein the Younger, Kunstmuseum Basel, March 31, 2006
• 2006 exhibition on Holbein in England at Tate Britain
• Review of Holbein in Britain, Tate Britain,2006
• smARThistory: The Ambassadors
• Hans Holbein the Younger Gallery at MuseumSyndicate

• Holbein's Dance of Death - A pictorial gallery of the woodcut illustrations.

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