Holbein

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Introduction: Who Was He?

Hans Holbein the Younger was born in Augsburg, Germany in 1497. He died in London, England in 1543. His father was Hans Holbein the Elder and his mother was unknown. He had two known brothers named Ambrosius and Sigmund Holbein. He was a member of a family of important artists. His father and uncle were renowned for their late Gothic paintings, and his brother became an artist too, until he died in 1517.

Early Life: His Early Adulthood Years

The brothers had studied with their father, then began their own independent work in 1515 in Basel, Switzerland. This event places Holbein firmly in the second generation of 16th-century German artists. As many other artists were producing their masterpieces, this was the beginning of Holbein’s career.

Beginnings of His Career:

Holbein’s work in Basel during the decade of 1515–25 was extremely varied, and sometimes derivative. Trips to northern Italy in 1517 and France in 1524 certainly affected the development of his religious subjects and portraiture, respectively. Holbein entered the painters’ corporation in 1519, married a tanner’s widow, and became a wealthy citizen of Basel in 1520. By 1521 he was executing important mural decorations in the Great Council Chamber of Basel’s town hall.

Career in Basel:

Holbein was associated early on with the Basel publishers and their humanist circle of acquaintances. There he found portrait commissions such as scholar Bonifacius Amerbach in 1519. In this and other early portraits, Holbein showed himself to be a master of the current German portrait, using strong characterization and accessories, strong gaze, and dramatic silhouette. In Basel, Holbein was also active in designing woodcuts for title pages and book illustrations. The artist’s most famous work Basel was a series of 41 scenes illustrating the medieval and allegorical concept of the “Dance of Death,” was designed by him and cut by another artist as early as about 1523 to 1526 but was not published until 1538. Its scenes display a clean sense of order, packing much information about the lifestyles and habits of the dead into a very small format. In portraiture, Holbein’s minute sense of observation was soon evident. His first major portrait of Desiderius Erasmus in 1523 portrays the Dutch humanist scholar physically withdrawn from the world, sitting at his desk engaged in his huge European correspondence.

Career in England:

Protestantism, which had been introduced into Basel around 1522, grew in strength and importance there during the next four years. By 1526 severe iconoclastic riots and strict censorship of the press swept over the city. This caused, for the moment at least, a “freezing” of the arts. Because of this, Holbein left Basel late in 1526, with a letter of introduction from Erasmus, to travel to the Netherlands to England. Even though he was only about 28 years old, he would achieve remarkable success in England. His most impressive works of this time were executed for the statesman and author Sir Thomas More and included a magnificent single portrait of the humanist in 1527. In this image, the painter’s close observation extends to the tiny stubble of More’s beard, the glow of his velvet sleeves, and the abstract decorative effects of the gold chain that he wears. Holbein also created a life-size group portrait of More’s family, but this work is now lost, though its appearance is preserved in copies and in preparatory drawing. This painting was the first example in northern European art of a large group portrait in which the figures weren't shown kneeling — this creates the effect that suggests the individuality of the sitters instead of impiety.

Religious Matters:

Before Holbein journeyed to England in 1526, he’d designed works that were both pro - and anti - Lutheran in character. On returning to Basel in 1528, he admitted, after some hesitation, to the new, and now official, faith. It would be difficult to interpret this as a decisive change, for Holbein’s most impressive religious works, like his portraits, are brilliant observations of physical reality, but never seemed to have been inspired by Christian spirituality. This is evident in both the Dead Christ in the Tomb in 1521 and in the beautifully composed Family of Burgomaster Meyer Adoring the Virgin in 1526. In this later painting, Holbein skillfully combined a late medieval German compositional format with Flemish realism and a monumental Italian form. Around 1530, Holbein seemed to have voluntarily give up almost all religious painting.

Later Years and Death:

By 1533 Holbein was already painting nobles and royals, and four years later, he officially entered the service of King Henry VIII of England. Holbein died in a London plague epidemic in 1543. It was estimated that during the last 10 years of his life, Holbein executed approximately 150 portraits of all sizes of royalty and nobility alike. These portraits ranged from a magnificent series depicting German merchants who were working in London, to double portraits of the French ambassadors, to King Henry VIII’s court in 1533, to portraits of the king himself and his two wives Jane Seymour in 1536 and Anne of Cleves in 1539. In these and other examples, the artist revealed his fascination with plant, animal, and decorative accessories. Holbein’s initial drawings of his sitters contain detailed symbols concerning jewelry and other costume decorations as well. Sometimes these objects point to specific events or concerns in the sitter’s life, or they act as attributes referring to a sitter’s occupation or character. The relation between accessories and face is a charged and stimulating one that avoids simple coincidence. Holbein was one of the greatest portraitists and most exquisite draftsmen of all time. It’s the artist’s record of the court of King Henry VIII of England, as well as the taste that he virtually imposed upon that court, which was his most remarkable achievement.

His Art Style:

Holbein's art is characterized by incredible technical skill, with a sense of composition and pattern, plus 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 appearance of his subjects directly reflecting their inner character or mood without the artist's attitude toward them. His drawings, frequently executed in black and colored chalks show testimony to this artistic personality: they are precise and controlled, and the outline dominates as the expressive representative. Holbein's development was gradual and appears to have been guided essentially by his successful search for perfection. In the work of his second English period, he concentrated more on clear form and ornament and was less concerned with three-dimensional form and space, with the result that his last portraits were relatively flat and decorative, characteristics generally associated with 16th-century mannerism.

Self-portrait of Holbein - 1542-1543

Portrait of King Henry VII - 1537

The Ambassadors - 1553

Portrait of Robert Cheseman - 1533