HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER, HANS

(1497/1498-1543)

German painter from Augsburg, trained by his father Hans Holbein the Elder, who was also a painter. In c. 1514, Holbein the Younger went to Basel where he entered the workshop of Hans Herbster. There he gained a reputation as a book illustrator, becoming employed by the publisher Johann Froben in 1516. In the years that Holbein was active, theReformationhad eliminated the need foraltarpiecesin the North because Protestants do not decorate their churches. Though Holbein did execute some religious works, he adapted to this situation in the art market by specializing in portraiture.In 1516, he painted the diptych portraitJakob Meyre and His Wife Dorothea Kannengiesser(Basel, Kunstmuseum). Here the figures are set in an Italianate architectural backdrop, their faces modeled in great detail. In 1521, the humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam visited Basel and Holbein painted his portrait (c. 1523; Paris, Louvre), showing him in profile at a desk writing. In 1526, prompted by the worsening art market in Basel, Holbein left for England where, armed with letters of recommendation from Erasmus, he was able to obtain commissions from Sir Thomas More. For More, Holbein painted a family portrait, now known only through a drawing (1526; Basel, Kupferstichkabinett) he sent back to Erasmus in Basel—the earliest informal group portrait so far recognized. From this, Holbein created various single portraits of the More family, including the famedSir Thomas More(1527) in the Frick Collection, New York. During a second trip to England (1532), Holbein painted one of his most remarkable portraits,The Ambassadors(1533; London, National Gallery), which depicts the French Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve, bishop of Lavour surrounded by books and instruments that cast the sitters as intellectuals. The most remarkable feature in this work is the anamorphic skull that floats in the foreground, thought to refer perhaps to Dinteville's heraldic device. In 1536, Holbein became court painter to Henry VIII of England. His portrait of the king in wedding attire is in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica,Rome, and dates to 1539— 1540. Not only did Holbein work for the king as portraitist but also as mural painter, miniaturist, engraver, and jewelry and costume designer. Holbein died in England in 1543 from theplague.