Delphi Complete Works of Hans Holbein the Younger (Illustrated)

By Hans Holbein the Younger

Hans Holbein the Younger, a Northern Renaissance master generally regarded as one of the greatest portraitists of art history, came from a family of prominent artists. His stunning portraits are renowned for their unprecedented naturalism and precise draughtsmanship. Holbein’s most enduring achievement is his record of the court of King Henry VIII, which we continue to view through his eyes and unique mode of expression. The influence of his work on the course of English portraiture is immeasurable, as he created a portrait type that elevated the status of English portraiture to a European level for the first time. Delphi’s Masters of Art Series presents the world’s first digital e-Art books, allowing readers to explore the works of great artists in comprehensive detail. This volume presents Holbein’s complete works in beautiful detail, with concise introductions, hundreds of high quality images and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)

* The complete paintings of Hans Holbein – over 150 images, fully indexed and arranged in chronological and alphabetical order
* Includes reproductions of rare and contested works
* Features a special ‘Highlights’ section, with concise introductions to the masterpieces, giving valuable contextual information
* Enlarged ‘Detail’ images, allowing you to explore Holbein’s celebrated works in detail, as featured in traditional art books
* Hundreds of images in colour – highly recommended for viewing on tablets and smartphones or as a valuable reference tool on more conventional eReaders
* Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the paintings
* Easily locate the artworks you wish to view
* Includes Holbein’s drawings – explore the artist’s varied works
* Features three bonus biographies, including Chamberlain’s seminal study – discover Holbein's artistic and personal life

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CONTENTS:

The Highlights
Portrait of Jakob Meyer (1516)
Portrait of Bonifacius Amerbach (1519)
The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb (1522)
Portrait of Erasmus (1523)
The Passion of Christ (1524)
Meyer Madonna (1526)
Lais of Corinth (1526)
Portrait of Sir Thomas More (1527)
Portrait of the Artist’s Family (1529)
Portrait of Georg Gisze of Danzig (1532)
The Ambassadors (1533)
Portrait of Thomas Cromwell (c. 1533)
Portrait of Sir Richard Southwell (1536)
Portrait of Henry VIII (1536)
Portrait of Jane Seymour (1537)
Portrait of Anne of Cleeves (1539)
Portrait of an Unknown Lady (1541)
Self Portrait (1543)

The Paintings
The Complete Paintings
Alphabetical List of Paintings

The Drawings
List of Drawings

The Biographies
Brief Biography of Hans Holbein (1900) by Lionel Henry Cust
Hans Holbein (1902) by Arthur B. Chamberlain
Holbein (1904) by Beatrice Fortescue

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Delphi Publishing Ltd
• Release date: May 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781801700566

Book preview

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Hans Holbein the Younger

(c. 1497-1543)

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Contents

The Highlights

Portrait of Jakob Meyer (1516)

Portrait of Bonifacius Amerbach (1519)

The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb (1522)

Portrait of Erasmus (1523)

The Passion of Christ (1524)

Meyer Madonna (1526)

Lais of Corinth (1526)

Portrait of Sir Thomas More (1527)

Portrait of the Artist’s Family (1529)

Portrait of Georg Gisze of Danzig (1532)

The Ambassadors (1533)

Portrait of Thomas Cromwell (c. 1533)

Portrait of Sir Richard Southwell (1536)

Portrait of Henry VIII (1536)

Portrait of Jane Seymour (1537)

Portrait of Anne of Cleeves (1539)

Portrait of an Unknown Lady (1541)

Self Portrait (1543)

The Paintings

The Complete Paintings

Alphabetical List of Paintings

The Drawings

List of Drawings

The Biographies

Brief Biography of Hans Holbein (1900) by Lionel Henry Cust

Hans Holbein (1902) by Arthur B. Chamberlain

Holbein (1904) by Beatrice Fortescue

The Delphi Classics Catalogue

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© Delphi Classics 2022

Version 1

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Masters of Art Series

Hans Holbein the Younger

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By Delphi Classics, 2022

COPYRIGHT

Masters of Art - Hans Holbein

First published in the United Kingdom in 2022 by Delphi Classics.

© Delphi Classics, 2022.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 80170 056 6

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

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The Highlights

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Panorama of Augsburg, Bavaria, 1493 — Hans Holbein the Younger was born in the free imperial city of Augsburg during the winter of 1497.

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The birthplace was completely destroyed in World War II. A replica was erected at the site in 1965 and is now used by the Kunstverein, an art association founded in 1833, which promotes fine arts from Germany.

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Holbein was the son of Hans Holbein the Elder (1465–1524), a pioneer in the transformation of German art from the Gothic to the Renaissance style.

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Hans (right) and his elder brother Ambrosius Holbein by Hans Holbein the Elder, 1511. Silverpoint on white-coated paper, Berlin State Museums

The Highlights

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In this section, a sample of Holbein’s most celebrated works is provided, with concise introductions, special ‘detail’ reproductions and additional biographical images.

Portrait of Jakob Meyer (1516)

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Hans Holbein the Younger, a Northern Renaissance master generally regarded as one of the greatest portraitists of art history, came from a family of prominent artists. His father, Hans Holbein the Elder, and his uncle Sigmund were celebrated in Germany for their late Gothic artwork, and Holbein’s brother Ambrosius also went on to become a painter, though he died before attaining maturity. Holbein was born in the free imperial city of Augsburg during the winter of 1497–98. His father operated a large and bustling workshop, sometimes assisted by Uncle Sigmund. Holbein and his brother would have first studied with their father and are recorded as having commenced independent work by 1515 in Basel, Switzerland. It was an especially gifted and vibrant period of art in Northern Europe, when such masters as Albrecht Dürer, Matthias Grünewald and Lucas Cranach were producing innovative masterpieces, directly challenging the influence of the Italian Renaissance.

At the time, the city of Basel was regarded as an important centre of learning, especially for the printing trade; and so the lure of the city was all too tempting for the two brothers, eager to escape the eclipsing shade of their famous father and uncle. In a new city they could set about establishing their own reputation.  Reports indicate that they were apprenticed to Hans Herbst (1470-1552), Basel’s leading painter. Herbst’s entire religious work perished in the Basel iconoclasm (when Catholic art and decoration were destroyed in unofficial or mob actions), after he opposed the Reformation. He was forced to convert to the new faith in 1530 and after that he received only insignificant orders. Therefore, it is difficult to assess how much influence Herbst had on the development of Holbein as an artist.

The brothers also found work as designers of woodcuts and metalcuts for various printers. In 1515, we know that the preacher and theologian Oswald Myconius invited them to add pen drawings to the margin of a copy of The Praise of Folly by the humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmus. These sketches provide early evidence of Holbein’s curious blend of humour and humanistic leaning. The next year Holbein secured the patronage of the wealthy merchant classes and was commissioned to paint the burgomaster Jakob Meyer and his wife Dorothea Kannengiesser, in spite of the artist’s young age and almost unknown reputation. Meyer would later become the head of the Catholic party in opposition to the reformers and would commission Holbein to paint his greatest religious work, The Meyer Madonna.

The Meyer portraits were influenced by a chiaroscuro woodcut by Hans Burgkmair, depicting Hans Baumgartner. Dorothea was the burgomaster’s second wife and the occasion for the double portrait could have been his election as the mayor the same year. Holbein presents the husband and wife against a continuous architectural background, noted for its elaborate detail, with striking contrasts of gold and red. It is the first portrait in which Holbein explores the use of perspective to create depth, wherein the architecture appears to project into the sitter’s space. The elaborate display of gold embroidery and jewellery accentuates the grandeur of the architecture, while the cool blue of the sky offers a calming contrast. 

The husband and wife are portrayed in a classical setting that was fashionable at the time, while their facial features are precisely observed and stubbornly unidealised — note the burgomaster’s prominent double chin and his wife’s severe and cold expression. Both sitters are portrayed as close in mutual feeling, with similar postures, aloof from the young artist and his medium. Unlike Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) before him, whose work often embraced the emotionalism of his world, Holbein makes a calm appraisal of his sitters’ condition, capturing their likeness with an accuracy that belies his tender age of eighteen.

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The companion portrait of the burgomaster’s wife, Dorothea Kannengießer

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Portrait of Hans Herbster by Ambrosius Holbein, Kunstmuseum Basel, 1516 — Basel’s leading painter was reportedly Holbein’s master when he first lived in the city.

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‘Christ on the Mount of Olives’ by Hans Herbst, c. 1510

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Hans Burgkmair’s woodcut of Hans Baumgartner, which influenced the Meyer portraits, c. 1512

Portrait of Bonifacius Amerbach (1519)

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Holbein’s work in Basel was certainly varied and at times derivative, though trips to northern Italy in 1517 and France in 1524 would help to supplement his learning and awareness of new advances. During his time away, scholars believe Holbein studied the work of Italian masters such as Andrea Mantegna in fresco, before returning to Northern Europe. He filled two series of panels at Hertenstein’s house with copies of works by Mantegna, including The Triumphs of Caesar. In 1519 Holbein entered the painters’ corporation — the same year that he married a tanner’s widow. By 1520 he was a burgher of Basel and the following year he was executing important mural decorations in the Great Council Chamber of Basel’s town hall.

During this formative period, Holbein was associated with the Basel publishers and their humanist circle of acquaintances, which led to lucrative portrait commissions, such as that of the scholar Bonifacius Amerbach (1519). In his early portraits Holbein reveals himself to be a master of the current German portrait idiom, employing robust characterisation and accessories, strong and penetrative gazes and the device of a dramatic silhouette. Painted in tempera on pinewood and held today in Basel’s Kunstmuseum, as part of the Amerbach Cabinet, the portrait of Bonifacius Amerbach avoids the ostentatious features of the Meyer portraits, resulting in a simpler and more engaging, personal work. A close friend of Erasmus, the humanist Amerbach was employed as Professor of Roman Law at Basel University. He would in time build up a large collection of Holbein artworks, which would form the basis of the famous collection now held in the city. Clearly, Amerbach was an impressive individual to the young Holbein, who presents him in a sympathetic manner. The scholar dominates the foreground, accompanied by a poem that was composed by himself, praising the verisimilitude of Holbein’s work. Pictorially, the panel on which the poem is presented helps to emphasise the depth of illusory space. In this portrait, the sitter and background are well-integrated, while the cool blue sky and distant snow-covered mountain slopes provide a necessary counterbalance to the severe dark tones of the foreground.

Amerbach’s dress is elegant and unobtrusive, stressing that this is a man of letters, uninterested in the gaudy pleasures of the world. The black clothing signifies his status as scholar, focussed on academic pursuits. The erudite personality is reinforced by Amerbach’s serious expression and his distant look out of the composition, avoiding direct eye contact with the viewer. There is a softness and warmth in his demeanour that was clearly lacking in the Meyer portraits.  We are given the image of a friend, not a paying and distant patron. Holbein highly esteemed this intellectual sitter, as shown by the dignity of expression that appears in this painting for the first time.

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The Kunstmuseum Basel houses the oldest public art collection in the world and is generally considered to be the most important museum of art in Switzerland.

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Holbein’s chalk and metalpoint drawing of Amerbach, completed six years later

The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb (1522)

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Religious artworks represent a significant part of the work Holbein produced during his time in Basel. These paintings range from modest and private commissions to dramatic creations such as The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb (1522), revealing an increasingly painterly approach, exploring a broad sweep of emotion. Painted between 1520 and 1522, it illustrates a life-size, grotesque depiction of the stretched body of Christ lying in his tomb. It was commissioned by Bonifacius Amerbach and it was included in the Amerbach Cabinet, where it was described as a Picture of a dead man by H. Holbein...with the title Iesus Nazarenus rex. A surviving legend tells that Holbein used a body retrieved from the Rhine as a model for the work.

The unusual artwork is notable for its dramatically wide dimensions, measuring 30.5 cm x 200 cm, and for the manner in which Christ’s face, hands and feet, as well as his wounds, are depicted as realistic dead flesh in the early stages of putrefaction, revealing the artist’s interest in naturalistic effects. The body is portrayed as long and emaciated, while the eyes and mouth are left open, giving a haunting impression. Christ’s raised and extended middle finger appears to reach down to the viewer, projecting out of the pictorial plane, while the strands of hair also appear to be breaking through the painting’s surface.

Like many artists of the early Protestant Reformation, Holbein had a fascination for the macabre. His father had taken him to view Matthias Grünewald’s famous altarpiece Lamentation and Entombment of Christ in Isenheim, a city in which Holbein the Elder had received numerous commissions from the local hospice. In keeping with the religious traditions of the 1520’s, Holbein’s painting was intended to evoke piety, following the intentions of Grünewald, who in his altarpiece conjures feelings of guilt and empathy in the viewer. Certainly, it serves as a reminder of Christ’s sufferings and mortification and his subsequent triumph.

The panel demonstrates masterful draughtsmanship and the young artist’s extraordinary capacity for detached and unflinching observation. Although there is no overt appeal to our emotions, nor an exaggeration of physical agony, yet the viewer is compelled to pity the fate of this divine man reduced to an ordinary corpse. The accurate delineation of the body, emphasised by the putrid flesh turning green around the wounds, the sunken eyes, swollen lips and rigid hands, makes this one of the most striking compositions of Holbein’s oeuvre.

Over the centuries the panel has roused fascination and praise. The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky was especially captivated by it. In 1867, his wife had to drag him away from the panel, fearing its grip on him might induce an epileptic fit. Dostoevsky recognised in the painting one of his own literary preoccupations: the pious desire to confront Christian faith with everything that negated it — in this case the laws of nature and the stark reality of death. In The Idiot (1869), the character Prince Myshkin, having viewed a copy of the painting in the home of Rogozhin, declares that it has the power to make the viewer lose his faith. The character of Ippolit Terentyev, an articulate exponent of atheism and nihilism, who is himself near death, engages in a long philosophical discussion of the painting, claiming how it exposes the victory of ‘blind nature’ over everything, including even the most perfect and beautiful of beings.

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A major source o f inspiration: ‘Lamentation and Entombment of Christ’ by Matthias Grünewald, Musee d’Unterlinden, Colmar, 1512-15

Portrait of Erasmus (1523)

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It was not long until Holbein’s adept skill at portraiture became all too apparent to the wealthy patrons of Basel, who learned to admire his minute observation. His first major sitter was the Dutch philosopher and Catholic theologian Desiderius Erasmus in 1523, then aged fifty-seven. This famous portrait — one of three to be painted by Holbein — depicts the humanist scholar as physically withdrawn from the world, seated at his desk, while engaged in his voluminous European correspondence. Erasmus’ hands are sensitively rendered with assured draughtsmanship, as is the sitter’s carefully controlled profile. Books and the implied theme of learning are the keynote to this composition.  In the top right corner, three large tomes project out of the shelf, as though about to fall off – such great store is placed on these precious items.

Surviving letters tell us that Erasmus liked to exchange portraits with his erudite friends. By the time of the following plate, he had already presented Sir Thomas More with a double portrait of himself, while the humanist printer Petrus Aegidius had received one by Quentin Massys. Portraits were often exchanged by humanists as tokens of mutual esteem, which explains why there are so many engraved copies of the Erasmus portrait. Aspiring scholars liked to adorn their libraries and studies with these images, providing encouragement for their scholarly pursuits. This trend had started in the fifteenth century, with the exchanging of portraits of divine scholars, such as Saint Augustine or Saint Jerome, surrounded by books and writing materials. In the following century the convention was adapted to the humanist scholar, and Holbein’s, as well as the Flemish painter Quentin Massys’ (1466–1530), portraits of scholars are variations on the theme. While Massys’ portraits are often more informal, attempting to replicate the ambience of the study, Holbein’s portraits are more definitive records of the sitter’s physiognomy. His Erasmus portraits represent a prelude to the humanist portraits that would make him famous during his time in England, when painting the celebrated members of the Tudor court.

Erasmus had settled in Basel in 1521 and Holbein is known to have provided woodcuts for his books. At that time, Erasmus was regarded as Europe’s most renowned classical scholar, who was eagerly sought after by princes and high churchmen. Therefore, his portrait was executed by many artists, including the great Dürer himself. However, today it is impossible to view him without thinking of Holbein’s three great portraits, which reveal the artist’s own appreciation of the great man’s unique blend of wit, detachment and gravity.

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Preparatory sketch of a hand for the portrait, Louvre, 1532

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Another Holbein portrait of Erasmus from 1523, Louvre Museum.  In this panel, Erasmus is depicted in profile, writing at his desk, as the viewer appears to look over his back at his work, adding intimacy to the scene.

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Desiderius Erasmus by Quinten Massys, Royal Collection, London, 1517

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Quentin Matsys, engraved by Johannes Wierix with Dominicus Lampsonius

The Passion of Christ (1524)

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The two shutters of The Passion of Christ altarpiece (1524) conclude the early phase of Holbein’s career. The eight scenes of the Passion are narrated over four tall and narrow panels, each divided in half horizontally. In the top row (left to right) we have the scene of Christ on the Mount of Olives, the Arrest in the Garden, Christ before Caiaphas and the Scourging. In the bottom row (left to right) there is the story of the Crown of Thorns, the Via Crucis, the Crucifixion and the final scene of the Entombment.

Although the subject and format he had chosen are familiar from earlier German compositions, Holbein tells the well-known story of Christ’s final days with an uncomplicated directness unknown from previous renditions. The figures have lost the austere impression and bonelessness of late Gothic biblical figures. Christ, his apostles and the Roman soldiers appear as strong and compact individuals that stand securely on the ground. They are human in essence, appealing to our sympathies through the various range of emotions conveyed in the scenes. We sense Christ’s palpable suffering in the Mount of Olives, while the following scene touchingly narrates the moment of betrayal, when Judas arrives with the Roman soldiers. Judas stretches out to embrace Christ, who looks down with resignation, fully aware of his fate. The Roman persecutors are not depicted as unfeeling brutes, but are calm and serious figures, in authentic Roman dress, with elegant poses that recall the works of Andrea Mantegna (c. 1431-1506).

The coherence of the altarpiece is highlighted by the decorative framework, again revealing Holbein’s close study of the Italian masters. There are also hallmarks of his mature style in this late-early masterpiece. He borrows the supreme lighting from Raphael’s Vatican frescoes, imbuing the scenes with an ethereal glow – a supernatural nocturnal lighting — providing the harrowing narrative a powerful charge.  The fervent portrayal of religious expression gives the altarpiece its own unique power of storytelling, quite separate from the lofty idealism of the Italian models it borrows from.

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Detail: Christ at Gethsemane

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Detail: the Judas Kiss

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Detail: Christ before Caiaphas

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Detail: The Scourging

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Detail: Road to Calvary

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Detail: the Crucifixion (lower)

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Detail: The Crucifixion (upper)

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Detail: The Entombment

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Altar of San Zeno Verona by Andrea Mantegna, Triptychon, Predella, central panel: Crucifixion, c. 1460

Meyer Madonna (1526)

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Also known as the Darmstadt Madonna, this painting was completed in 1526 in Basel. It portrays on the left the Bürgermeister of Basel, Jakob Meyer zum Hasen, while to the right he is accompanied by both his first wife (who had died before the commission) and his second wife and daughter Anna, all grouped around the sacred figures of the Madonna and infant Christ. The identities of the male youth and male baby beside Meyer remain uncertain. Some scholars have suggested that they represent the Bürgermeister’s deceased sons. One thing that is certain is how the image signifies the resolute Catholic faith of the patron, who loudly opposed the Reformation.

The altarpiece can be classed as a Schutzmantelbild (a ‘Virgin of Pity’ painting), in which the patron calls for the divine protection of himself and his family. Meyer had undergone a tumultuous period of his life since the early double portrait of 1516. As the mayor of Basel, he had infamously sacked the castle of Pfeffingen. He had remained mayor until 1521, when he was accused of receiving secret pensions from France. Von Hasen and six other grand councillors were expelled form the Grand Council, after which he was imprisoned for a time. Following his release, he re-entered the Grand Council of Basel, where he became a staunch member of the Catholic Party. In the Meyer Madonna he appears as a much humbler man, who has suffered worldly failure and disgrace. He no longer stares defiantly out of the composition and the former arrogance is nowhere to be seen. Now, his eyes are fixed on the sacred image of the Virgin and Child, while his expression suggests meditation and religious fervour. This sacred introspection is echoed in the portraits of both wives. The first, Magdalena Baer, is presented in profile, signalling a more enigmatic presence, while the second, Dorothea Kannengiesser, neither looks across at her husband or the children, but appears lost in troubled contemplation. 

An important influence was Mantegna’s 1496 Madonna della Vittoria, which features a similar perspectival approach to the figures grouped around the Virgin and Child. The influence of Leonardo can be detected in the soft painting of the flesh, imbuing life in