Editing Hans Holbein the Younger (section)

== Art ==
{{See also|List of paintings by Hans Holbein the Younger}}

=== Influences ===
[[File:Lais of Corinth, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumb|upright|Holbein's ''[[Lais of Corinth (Hans Holbein the Younger)|Lais of Corinth]]'', 1526, reveals the influence of [[Leonardo da Vinci|Leonardo]]. Oil and tempera on limewood, [[Kunstmuseum Basel]].]]

The first influence on Holbein was his father, [[Hans Holbein the Elder]], an accomplished religious artist and portraitist<ref>Ganz, 5–6.</ref> who passed on his techniques as a religious artist and his gifts as a portraitist to his son.<ref>Müller, ''et al.'', 29–30.</ref> The young Holbein learned his craft in his father's workshop in [[Augsburg]], a city with a thriving book trade, where [[woodcut]] and [[engraving]] flourished. Augsburg also acted as one of the chief "ports of entry" into Germany for the ideas of the [[Italian Renaissance]].<ref>Wilson, 16; North, 12.</ref> By the time Holbein began his apprenticeship under Hans Herbster in Basel, he was already steeped in the late Gothic style, with its unsparing realism and emphasis on line, which influenced him throughout his life.<ref>Strong, 9.</ref> In Basel, he was favoured by [[humanist]] patrons, whose ideas helped form his vision as a mature artist.<ref>Bätschmann & Griener, 11.</ref>

During his Swiss years, when he may have visited Italy, Holbein added an Italian element to his stylistic vocabulary. Scholars note the influence of [[Leonardo da Vinci]]'s "[[sfumato]]" (smoky) technique on his work, for example in his ''Lais of Corinth''.<ref>Buck, 41–43; Bätschmann and Griener, 135; Ganz, 4; Claussen, 50. ''Venus and Amor'' is sometimes considered a workshop portrait. Holbein also painted his own, very different, version of ''The Last Supper'', based on Leonardo's ''[[The Last Supper (Leonardo)|The Last Supper]]'' in Milan.</ref> From the Italians, Holbein learned the art of single-point [[perspective (graphical)|perspective]] and the use of antique motifs and architectural forms. In this, he may have been influenced by [[Andrea Mantegna]].<ref>Strong, 9–10; North, 14; Sander, 17–18. The influence of [[Andrea del Sarto]] and [[Andrea Solari]] has also been detected in Holbein's work, as well as that of the Venetian [[Giovanni Bellini]].</ref> The decorative detail recedes in his late portraits, though the calculated precision remains. Despite assimilating Italian techniques and Reformation theology, Holbein's art in many ways extended the Gothic tradition.<ref>Strong, 7, 10.</ref>

His portrait style, for example, remained distinct from the more sensuous technique of [[Titian]], and from the [[Mannerism]] of [[William Scrots]], Holbein's successor as King's Painter.<ref>Strong, 7, 10.</ref> Holbein's portraiture, particularly his drawings, had more in common with that of [[Jean Clouet]], which he may have seen during his visit to France in 1524.<ref>Bätschmann and Griener, 134. His two drawings, done in France, of statues of [[John, Duke of Berry|Duc Jean de Berry]] (1340–1416) and his wife [[Joan II, Countess of Auvergne|Jeanne de Boulogne]] (d. 1438) "suggest that Holbein learned the new technique in France".</ref> He adopted Clouet's method of drawing with coloured chalks on a plain ground, as well as his care over preliminary portraits for their own sake.<ref>Strong, 8–10; Bätschmann and Griener, 134–35; Müller, ''et al.'', 30, 317. Bätschmann and Griener are not convinced that Holbein learned this directly from Clouet; they suggest he learned it from a mixture of French and Italian models. And Müller points out that, in any case, the technique was not unknown in Augsburg and Switzerland.</ref> During his second stay in England, Holbein learned the technique of [[limning]], as practised by [[Lucas Horenbout]]. In his last years, he raised the art of the [[portrait miniature]] to its first peak of brilliance.<ref>Strong, 7; North, 30; Rowlands, 88–90. [[Karel van Mander]] wrote in the early 17th century that "Lucas" taught Holbein illumination, but John Rowlands downplays Horenbout's influence on Holbein's miniatures, which he believes follow the techniques of Jean Clouet and the French school.</ref>

=== Religious works ===
[[File:The Abbot, from The Dance of Death, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumb|upright|''The [[Abbot]]'', woodcut from the ''[[Dance of Death]]'' series, 1523–26, {{nowrap|6.5 x 4.8&nbsp;cm}} inside frame]]

Holbein followed in the footsteps of Augsburg artists like his father and [[Hans Burgkmair]], who largely made their living from religious commissions. Despite calls for reform, the church in the late 15th century was [[medieval]] in tradition. It maintained an allegiance to Rome and a faith in pieties such as pilgrimages, veneration of relics, and prayer for dead souls. Holbein's early work reflects this culture. The growing reform movement, led by humanists such as Erasmus and Thomas More, began, however, to change religious attitudes. Basel, where [[Martin Luther]]'s major works were first published, became the main centre for the transmission of Reformation ideas.<ref>Bätschmann & Griener, 95.</ref>

The gradual shift from traditional to reformed religion can be charted in Holbein's work. His [[The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb|''Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb'']] of 1522 expresses a [[humanist]] view of Christ in tune with the reformist climate in Basel at the time.<ref>Buck, 32–33; Wilson, 88, 111; Ganz, 8; Bätschmann & Griener, 88–90. Holbein knew Grünewald's ''[[Isenheim Altarpiece|Lamentation and Burial of Christ]]'' at [[Issenheim]], not far from Basel, where his father had worked in 1509 and between 1516 and 1517.</ref> The ''Dance of Death'' (1523–26) refashions the late-medieval [[allegory]] of the ''[[Danse Macabre]]'' as a reformist satire.<ref>Wilson, 96–103. The prints were not published until 1538, perhaps because they were thought too subversive at a time of peasants' revolts. The series was left incomplete by the death of the block cutter [[Hans Lützelburger]] in 1526, and was eventually published with 41 woodcuts by his heirs without mention of Holbein. The ten further designs were added in later editions.</ref> Holbein's series of [[woodcut]]s shows the figure of "Death" in many disguises, confronting individuals from all walks of life. None escape Death's skeleton clutches, even the pious.<ref>Bätschmann & Griener, 56–58, and Landau & Parshall, 216.</ref>

In addition to the ''Dance of Death'' Holbein completed ''Icones'' or ''Series of the Old Gospel'' (It contains two works: ''The images of the stories of the Old Gospel'' and ''Portraits or printing boards of the story of the Old Gospel''). These works were arranged by Holbein with Melchior & Gaspar Trechsel in about 1526, later printed and edited in Latin by Jean & Francois Frellon with 92 woodcuts. These two works also share the first four figures with the ''Dance of Death''.

It appears that the Trechsel brothers initially intended to hire Holbein for illustrating Bibles.<ref>9 September, Francisco González Echeverría VI International Meeting for the History of Medicine, (S-11: Biographies in History of Medicine (I)), Barcelona. New Discoveries on the biography of Michael de Villeneuve (Michael Servetus) & New discoveries on the work of Michael De Villeneuve (Michael Servetus) {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110809093438/http://ishmbarcelona2011.org/ VI Meeting of the International Society for the History of Medicine]}}</ref> In fact, some of Holbein's ''Icones'' woodcuts appear in the recently discovered ''Biblia cum Glossis''<ref>2011 "The love for truth. Life and work of Michael Servetus", (El amor a la verdad. Vida y obra de Miguel Servet.), printed by Navarro y Navarro, Zaragoza, collaboration with the Government of Navarre, Department of Institutional Relations and Education of the Government of Navarre, 607pp, 64 of them illustrations, p 215-228 & 62nd illustration (XLVII)</ref> by Michel De Villeneuve ([[Michael Servetus]]). Holbein woodcuts appear in several other works by Servetus: his Spanish translation of ''The images of the stories of the Old Gospel'',<ref>2000 "Find of new editions of Bibles and of two 'lost' grammatical works of Michael Servetus" and "The doctor Michael Servetus was descendant of jews", González Echeverría, Francisco Javier. Abstracts, 37th International Congress on the History of Medicine, 10–15 September 2000, Galveston, Texas, U.S., pp. 22–23.</ref> printed by Juan Stelsio in Antwerp in 1540 (92 woodcuts), and also of his Spanish versification of the associated work ''Portraits or printing boards of the story of the Old Gospel'', printed by Francois and Jean Frellon in 1542 (same 92 woodcuts plus 2 more), as it was demonstrated in the [[International Society for the History of Medicine]], by the expert researcher in Servetus, González Echeverría, who also proved the existence of the other work of Holbein & [[Michael Servetus|De Villeneuve]], ''Biblia cum Glossis'' or " Lost Bible".<ref>2001 "Portraits or graphical boards of the stories of the Old Gospel. Spanish Summary", González Echeverría, Francisco Javier. Government of Navarra, Pamplona 2001. Double edition: facsimile (1543) and critical edition. Prologue by Julio Segura Moneo.</ref><ref>[http://www.michaelservetusresearch.com/ENGLISH/works.html Michael Servetus Research] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221134108/http://www.michaelservetusresearch.com/ENGLISH/works.html |date=21 February 2017 }} Website with a study on the three works by Servetus with woodcuts by Hans Holbein</ref>

[[File:Darmstadtmadonna.jpg|thumb|''[[Darmstadt Madonna]]'', with [[donor portrait]]s, on a [[Holbein carpet]]. 1525–26 and 1528. Oil and tempera on limewood, [[Reinhold Würth|Würth]] Collection, [[Schwäbisch Hall]].]]
Holbein painted many large religious works between 1520 and 1526, including the ''Oberried Altarpiece'', the ''[[Solothurn Madonna]]'', and the ''Passion''. Only when [[Beeldenstorm|Basel's reformers turned to iconoclasm]] in the later 1520s did his freedom and income as a religious artist suffer.<ref>Bätschmann & Griener, 97.</ref>

Holbein continued to produce religious art, but on a much smaller scale. He designed satirical religious woodcuts in England. His small painting for private devotion, ''Noli Me Tangere'',<ref>Wilson, 129; Foister, 127; Strong, 60; Rowlands, 130; Claussen, 49. Scholars are unsure of the exact date of ''Noli Me Tangere'', usually given as between 1524 and 1526, or whether it was painted in England, Basel, or even France. The traditional view that Henry VIII owned the painting is discounted by Strong and Rowlands. Franny Moyle, however, writes, "The evidence that this was painted for [[Thomas More|[Thomas] More]] rests in part in the fact that by 1540 it was in Henry VIII's collection, and it is widely presumed that it was seized by the king at the point of More's attainder." ''The King's Painter'', p. 157.</ref> has been taken as an expression of his personal religion. Depicting the moment when the risen Christ tells [[Mary Magdalene]] not to touch him, Holbein adheres to the details of the bible story.<ref>Wilson, 129–30; Moyle, 158. Wilson contrasts Holbein's treatment with the earlier, freer, interpretation by [[Titian]].</ref> The 17th-century diarist [[John Evelyn]] wrote that he "never saw so much reverence and kind of heavenly astonishment expressed in a picture".<ref>Quoted by Wilson, 130.</ref>

Holbein has been described as "the supreme representative of German Reformation art".<ref name="North, 24" /> The Reformation was a varied movement, however, and his position was often ambiguous. Despite his ties with Erasmus and More, he signed up to the revolution begun by [[Martin Luther]], which called for a return to the Bible and the overthrow of the papacy. In his woodcuts ''Christ as the Light of the World'' and ''The Selling of Indulgences'', Holbein illustrated attacks by Luther against Rome.<ref>Bätschmann & Griener, 116; Wilson, 68.</ref> At the same time, he continued to work for Erasmians and known traditionalists. After his return from England to a reformed Basel in 1528, he resumed work both on Jakob Meyer's Madonna and on the murals for the Council Chamber of the Town Hall. The Madonna was an icon of traditional piety, while the [[Old Testament]] murals illustrated a reformist agenda.

Holbein returned to England in 1532 as [[Thomas Cromwell]] was about to transform religious institutions there. He was soon at work for Cromwell's propaganda machine, creating images in support of the [[Supreme Head|royal supremacy]] and (in the case of ''[[An Allegory of the Old and New Testaments]]'') [[Lutheranism]].<ref>Strong, 5; Rowlands, 91.</ref> The painting  identified the Old Testament with the "Old Religion".<ref>Rowlands, 92–93.</ref> During the period of the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]], he produced a series of small woodcuts in which biblical villains were dressed as monks.<ref>Foister, 140–41; Strong, 5.</ref> Scholars have detected subtler religious references in his portraits. In ''The Ambassadors'', for example, details such as the Lutheran [[hymn]] book and the crucifix behind the curtain allude to the context of the French mission.<ref>North, 94–95; Bätschmann & Griener, 188.</ref> Holbein painted few religious images in the later part of his career.<ref>North, 25.</ref> He focused on secular designs for decorative objects, and on portraits stripped of inessentials.

=== Portraits ===
[[File:Margaret, Lady Elyot by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumb|upright|''Portrait of [[Margaret à Barrow|Margaret, Lady Elyot]]'', {{circa|1532}}–34. [[Royal Collection]], Windsor Castle.]]
[[File:Sir Thomas Elyot by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumb|upright|''Portrait of Sir [[Thomas Elyot]]'', {{circa|1532}}–34. Royal Collection, [[Windsor Castle]].]]

For Holbein, "everything began with a drawing".<ref name="Strong, 7">Strong, 7.</ref> A gifted draughtsman, he was heir to a German tradition of line drawing and precise preparatory design. Holbein's chalk and ink portraits demonstrate his mastery of outline. He always made preparatory portraits of his sitters, though many drawings survive for which no painted version is known, suggesting that some were drawn for their own sake.<ref>Strong, 8; Rowlands, 118–19.</ref> Holbein produced relatively few portraits during his years in Basel. Among these were his 1516 studies of Jakob and Dorothea Meyer, sketched, like many of his father's portrait drawings, in [[silverpoint]] and chalk.<ref>Buck, 16–17.</ref>

Holbein painted most of his portraits during his two periods in England. In the first, between 1526 and 1528, he used the technique of Jean Clouet for his preliminary studies, combining black and coloured chalks on unprimed paper. In the second, from 1532 to his death, he drew on smaller sheets of pink-primed paper, adding pen and brushwork in ink to the chalk.<ref>Parker, 24–29; Foister, 103. Many of these studies have been coloured in or outlined in ink by later hands ("made worse by mending"), obstructing the analysis of Holbein's technique.</ref> Judging by the three-hour sitting given to him by Christina of Denmark, Holbein could produce such portrait studies quickly.<ref name="Strong, 7" /> Some scholars believe that he used a mechanical device to help him trace the contours of his subjects' faces.<ref>Ganz, 11; Foister, 103. Foister, however, is doubtful, owing to "the inconsistency in the sizes of the drawn heads".</ref> Holbein paid less attention to facial tones in his later drawings, making fewer and more emphatic strokes, but they are never formulaic.<ref>Parker, 28; Rowlands, 118–20.</ref> His grasp of spatial relationships ensures that each portrait, however sparely drawn, conveys the sitter's presence.<ref name="Foister15" />

Holbein's painted portraits were closely founded on drawing. Holbein transferred each drawn portrait study to the panel with the aid of geometrical instruments.<ref name="Ganz, 5">Ganz, 5.</ref> He then built up the painted surface in [[tempera]] and oil, recording the tiniest detail, down to each stitch or fastening of costume. In the view of art historian Paul Ganz, "The deep glaze and the enamel-like lustre of the colouring were achieved by means of the metallic, highly polished crayon groundwork, which admitted of few corrections and, like the preliminary sketch, remained visible through the thin layer of colour".<ref name="Ganz, 5" />
[[File:Hans Holbein der Jüngere - Der Kaufmann Georg Gisze - Google Art Project.jpg|left|thumb|''Portrait of the Merchant [[Georg Giese]]'', 1532. Oil and tempera on oak, [[Berlin State Museums]].]]
The result is a brilliant portrait style in which the sitters appear, in Foister's words, as "recognisably individual and even contemporary-seeming" people, dressed in minutely rendered clothing that provides an unsurpassed source for the history of Tudor costume.<ref>Strong, 5, 8; Foister, 15.</ref> Holbein's humanist clients valued individuality highly.<ref>North, 20.</ref> According to Strong, his portrait subjects underwent "a new experience, one which was a profound visual expression of humanist ideals".<ref>Strong, 6.</ref>

Commentators differ in their response to Holbein's precision and objectivity as a portraitist. What some see as an expression of spiritual depth in his sitters, others have called mournful, aloof, or even vacant. "Perhaps an underlying coolness suffuses their countenances," wrote Holbein's 19th-century biographer [[Alfred Woltmann]], "but behind this outward placidness lies hidden a breadth and depth of inner life".<ref>Quoted by Michael, 237.</ref> Some critics see the iconic and pared-down style of Holbein's later portraits as a regression. Kenyon Cox, for example, believes that his methods grew more primitive, reducing painting "almost to the condition of medieval illumination".<ref>Quoted by Michael, 239–40.</ref> [[Erna Auerbach]] relates the "decorative formal flatness" of Holbein's late art to the style of illuminated documents, citing the group portrait of Henry VIII and the Barber Surgeons' Company.<ref>Auerbach, 69–71.</ref> Other analysts detect no loss of powers in Holbein's last phase.<ref>Wilson, 265.</ref>

Until the later 1530s, Holbein often placed his sitters in a three-dimensional setting. At times, he included classical and biblical references and inscriptions, as well as [[drapery]], architecture, and symbolic props. Such portraits allowed Holbein to demonstrate his virtuosity and powers of allusion and metaphor, as well as to hint at the private world of his subjects. His 1532 portrait of Sir [[Brian Tuke]], for example, alludes to the sitter's poor health, comparing his sufferings to those of [[Job (Bible)|Job]]. The depiction of the [[Five wounds of Christ]] and the inscription "[[INRI]]" on Tuke's crucifix are, according to scholars Bätschmann and Griener, "intended to protect its owner against ill-health".<ref>Bätschmann & Griener, 177–81.</ref> Holbein portrays the merchant [[Georg Giese|Georg Gisze]] among elaborate symbols of science and wealth that evoke the sitter's personal [[iconography]]. However, some of Holbein's other portraits of Steelyard merchants, for example that of Derich Born, concentrate on the naturalness of the face. They prefigure the simpler style that Holbein favoured in the later part of his career.<ref>Bätschmann & Griener, 181.</ref>
[[File:Hans Holbein the Younger - Charles de Solier, Sieur de Morette - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Charles de Solier]], Sieur de Morette, 1534. {{Lang|de|[[Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister]]|italic=no}}, Dresden.]]
Study of Holbein's later portraits has been complicated by the number of copies and derivative works attributed to him. Scholars now seek to distinguish the true Holbeins by the refinement and quality of the work.<ref>Rowlands, 118–20.</ref> The hallmark of Holbein's art is a searching and perfectionist approach discernible in his alterations to his portraits. In the words of art historian John Rowlands:

<blockquote>This striving for perfection is very evident in his portrait drawings, where he searches with his brush for just the right line for the sitter's profile. The critical faculty in making this choice and his perception of its potency in communicating decisively the sitter's character is a true measure of Holbein's supreme greatness as a portrait painter. Nobody has ever surpassed the revealing profile and stance in his portraits: through their telling use, Holbein still conveys across the centuries the character and likeness of his sitters with unrivalled mastery.<ref>Rowlands, 122.</ref></blockquote>

=== Miniatures ===

[[File:Holbein, Hans (II) - Mrs Jane Small, formerly Mrs Pemberton - Google Art Project.jpg|left|thumb|''[[Jane Small]]'', portrait miniature, {{circa|1540}}. [[Bodycolour]] on [[vellum]], [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], London.]]

During his last decade, Holbein painted a number of [[portrait miniature|miniatures]], which are small portraits worn as a kind of jewel. His miniature technique derived from the medieval art of [[manuscript illumination]]. His small panel portrait of Henry VIII shows an interpenetration between his panel and miniature painting.<ref>Auerbach, 69.</ref> Holbein's large pictures had always contained a miniature-like precision. He now adapted this skill to the smaller form, somehow retaining a monumental effect.<ref>Reynolds, 6–7.</ref> The twelve or so certain miniatures by Holbein that survive reveal his mastery of "limning", as the technique was called.<ref>Strong, 7; Gaunt, 25.</ref> 

His miniature portrait of [[Jane Small]], with its rich blue background, crisp outlines, and absence of shading, is considered a masterpiece of the genre. According to art historian Graham Reynolds, Holbein "portrays a young woman whose plainness is scarcely relieved by her simple costume of black-and-white materials, and yet there can be no doubt that this is one of the great portraits of the world. With remarkable objectivity Holbein has not added anything of himself or subtracted from his sitter's image; he has seen her as she appeared in a solemn mood in the cold light of his painting-room".<ref>Reynolds, 7.</ref>

=== Designs ===
[[File:Chimney-piece design, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumb|upright|Design for a chimney-piece, {{circa|1538}}–40. Pen and black ink with grey, blue, and red wash on paper, [[British Museum]], London.]]

Throughout his life, Holbein designed both large-scale decorative works such as murals and smaller objects, including plate and jewellery. In many cases, his designs, or copies of them, are the sole evidence for such works. For example, his murals for the Hertenstein House in Lucerne and for the House of the Dance in Basel are known only through his designs. As his career progressed, he added Italian Renaissance motifs to his Gothic vocabulary.

Many of the intricate designs etched into suits of [[Greenwich armour]], including King Henry's own personal tournament harnesses, were based on designs by Holbein. His style continued to influence the unique form of English armour for nearly half a century after his death.

Holbein's cartoon for part of the dynastic Tudor wall painting at Whitehall reveals how he prepared for a large mural. It was made of 25 pieces of paper, each figure cut out and pasted onto the background.<ref>Foister, 95; Rowlands, 113.</ref> Many of Holbein's designs for glass painting, metalwork, jewellery, and weapons also survive. All demonstrate the precision and fluidity of his draughtsmanship. In the view of art historian Susan Foister, "These qualities so animate his decorative designs, whether individual motifs, such as his favoured serpentine mermen and women, or the larger shapes of cups, frames, and fountains, that they scintillate on paper even before their transformation into precious metal and stone".<ref name="Foister15" />

Holbein's way of designing objects was to sketch preliminary ideas and then draw successive versions with increasing precision. His final draft was a presentation version. He often used traditional patterns for ornamental details such as foliage and branches. When designing precious objects, Holbein worked closely with craftsmen such as goldsmiths including [[Cornelis Hayes]]. His design work, suggests art historian John North, "gave him an unparalleled feel for the textures of materials of all kinds, and it also gave him the habit of relating physical accessories to face and personality in his portraiture".<ref>North, 31.</ref> Although little is known of Holbein's workshop, scholars assume that his drawings were partly intended as sources for his assistants.
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