Hans (the Younger) Holbein
(1497 - 1543) |
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Portraiture, miniatures, book illustrator, Printmaker Art Work
| Name: |
Hans (the Younger) Holbein |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Augsburg, Germany |
| Nationality: |
German |
| Birth: |
1497 |
| Death: |
1543 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Portraiture, miniatures, book illustrator, Printmaker |
| Medium: |
Primarily oil and tempera on oak |
| Method: |
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| Style: |
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| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painting
Printmaking
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Biography
| Hans Holbein the Younger trained in his father's painting workshop in the cosmopolitan Renaissance city of Augsburg. Strongly influenced by Netherlandish art, the family was also aware of trends arriving over the Alps from Italy. From an early age, therefore, Holbein played with motifs from classical art while painting in the northern manner. Like many artists of his generation, he had a desire to travel, and in 1515 he found work in Basel, Switzerland. Basel was a center of humanist thought, which was greatly influential on the artist's career. Through the contacts he made in Basel, Holbein met and painted the Dutch humanist scholar Erasmus, and was introduced to the great minds of the Tudor court in England. Holbein arrived in London in 1526 with a letter of recommendation from Erasmus to paint the family of Sir Thomas More. This first period in London was spent at the More family home, where he produced the striking portrait Sir Thomas More (1527). His painting of the More family, since destroyed, is the earliest example of a non-devotional group portrait in northern Europe and set the standard for subsequent generations. Aside from his portraits and religious paintings, Holbein produced printed illustrations and graphic work, his most famous series being the Dance of Death (1538) collection of woodcuts. He also provided designs for jewelry and silverware, work that made good use of his draftsmanship. During his second stay in London, from 1532, Holbein developed his distinctive formula for portraits. Set against a plain-colored background, often a jewel-like blue, his subjects sit politely upright, their features recorded with almost photographic accuracy, Holbein's brushes delineating their eyebrows, nostrils, and fingernails in fine, dark outlines. By 1535 Holbein had achieved his ambition to become court painter to King Henry VIM, having already supplied designs for the coronation of Queen Anne Boleyn. His portraits of Henry VIII have become the lasting image of the charismatic ruler and are how Holbein's achievement is best remembered. |
Samples of Work
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