Editing Ambrosius Holbein (section)

==Biography==
Like his younger brother, he was born in [[Augsburg]] (which today is in [[London|Bavaria]], but then was a [[free imperial city]]), a center of art, culture, and trade at that time. His father [[Hans Holbein the Elder]] was a pioneer and leader in the transformation of German art from the [[Gothic art|Gothic]] to the [[Renaissance]] style. In his studio, both his sons, Ambrosius and Hans, received their first painting lessons as well as an introduction to the crafts of the [[goldsmith]], jeweller, and printmaker.

The young Holbein, alongside his brother and his father, is pictured in the left-hand panel of Holbein the Elder's 1504 altarpiece [[triptych]] the ''Basilica of St. Paul'', which is displayed at the Staatsgalerie in Augsberg.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02h9c5v/p02h9bfz|title=Paintings featured in Holbein: Eye of the Tudors|website=bbc.co.uk|access-date=22 June 2020}}</ref>

In 1515, Ambrosius is assumed to have lived in the Swiss town of [[Stein am Rhein]], where he helped a painter from [[Schaffhausen]] named Thomas Schmid with the murals in the main hall of the St. George monastery.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Müller|first=Christian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vU5tQgAACAAJ|title=Hans Holbein the Younger: The Basel Years, 1515-1532|date=2006|publisher=[[Prestel]]|isbn=978-3-7913-3580-3|pages=10–11|language=en}}</ref> The next year saw Ambrosius, as well as his brother Hans, in [[Basel]], where he initially worked as a [[journeyman]] in Hans Herbster's studio. In 1517 he registered as a member of the Basel [[painters' guild]], and on 6 June 1518 he was naturalized as a citizen of Basel. The goldsmith Jörg Schweiger,<ref name=":1" /> whom Holbein had portrayed before, was his guarantor.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Stein|first=Wilhelm|title=Holbein der Jüngere|publisher=Julius Bard Verlag|year=1920|location=Berlin|pages=28}}</ref> However, he disappears from records soon after and is assumed to have died around 1519.<ref>Wilson, Derek. ''Hans Holbein: Portrait of an Unknown Man''. London: Pimlico, Revised Edition, 200, pp. 69–70. Wilson cautions against too readily accepting that Ambrosius died, since other explanations for his disappearance from the record are possible. However, only Hans Holbein claimed their father's estate when he died in 1524.</ref> [[Franny Moyle]] writes, "There is no record of Ambrosius's death, but the abrupt cessation of his work in a year [1519] where so many were falling prey to sickness suggests that he either caught the disease that began with a headache, or the plague that came in its wake, and died. Another alternative is that his financial worries had pressed him into mercenary service ... though with the Italian Wars in momentary pause, this seems unlikely."<ref>Moyle, Franny, ''The King's Painter: The Life and Times of Hans Holbein'', New York: Abrams Press, 2021, p. 86.</ref>

The ''Portrait of a Boy with Blond Hair'' and its companion, the ''Portrait of a Boy with Brown Hair'', are among Ambrosius’ best works of this period. Both are now in the [[Basel Kunstmuseum]].

Ambrosius Holbein ranks among the most important of Basel's illustrators and prominent "small format" artists.